


The Art Of Creation

by HyperKey



Series: The Arts [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Case Fic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Possible AU, Whump, slight body horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-05-24 03:02:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14946386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperKey/pseuds/HyperKey
Summary: Hank and Connor end up in a case that seemed harmless at first, but is a lot more twisted than anticipated.





	1. Dead bodies and Dresses

**Author's Note:**

> A multi chapter fic. I am a little scared. Plotting isn't my strongest suit.  
> I'm trying my best anyway! 
> 
> Comments are always appreciated! Tell me what you liked, what i can improve and share any theories you might have. I love them!
> 
> EDIT: 10th july 2018  
> In regards to certain issues:  
> This fic uses cuss words. A lot of them.  
> Oh my, Hank might actually be in character. What a shocker.
> 
> ## If you feel personally insulted by any of the cussing in this fic, you're free to leave without being an asshole. 
> 
> If you decide to flame, I will take action.
> 
> You have been warned.
> 
> Don't like don't read wasn't it?
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> [](http://statcounter.com/)  
>   
> 

White. Snow. Cold.

Everything was so horribly cold. The rain slamming down on his shoulders, soaking through the thick jacket, the white shirt and his shoes. He had been standing here for way too long already without any results. There wasn’t enough lying around to pin point anything. He had found the scrap of a rose colored frill, most likely belonging to a dress. But he android in front of him was unclothed, skin deactivated, dark eyes staring into nothing.

Female, dead for approximately seven hours. Memory and main processor brutally shot out of her head with a shotgun. There was no saving it, there was no way to access her memory. There was nothing to go by. And he was greatly disturbed, not just by the torn apart parts, but by what had done that.

He felt sick.  _Emotion_. He concluded. One he couldn’t name. Hank probably had an answer, but Hank was busy talking to Ben while both of them tried to piece together what had happened. He hadn’t gotten and further than they had.

Fowler had suggested taking time off. Connor had refused. He was fine. He needed work to distract himself from the annoying memories that kept jabbing at him every time he had nothing to do. Everyone at the Precinct treated him differently. Even Gavin had ignored him most of the time.

When he had returned to work three weeks ago, he had found a book on his desk, with a small note attached to it. The note told him that whoever had given it to him, was glad that he was back. The handwriting hadn’t yet revealed a match. He lacked samples from most people at the precinct as no one really wrote on paper anymore these days. And he couldn’t really go around asking everyone for a sample of their handwriting.

Hank had insisted that it wasn’t from him. Connor had known that because Hanks handwriting was different. He still didn’t know who had gone out of their way to find a paperback version of Asimov’s  _I, Robot_. He found it to be a strange but kind gesture and had made it an effort to figure out who had given it to him.

He had gotten very close to figure out who it had been, when they had received the call for the current investigation.

And now he had been standing in the cold rain for almost two hours. Scanning the area once more revealed nothing of interesting and walking around hadn’t gotten him anywhere else either.

The body had been dragged here after it had been shot, as the extremely low thirium levels suggested. Presumably transported here by a car. That car was long gone and there was no telling where it went. The rain had washed away traces of thirium that could have been found on the road, fingerprints, foot prints. Nothing to give them any hints on who had dragged the woman to the side of the road and left her there to rot.

Not even the gun was found anywhere.

She had been discarded like a piece of junk, a heap of trash. Tossed out at the road after being killed. Connor hadn’t yet seen a murder like that in person. Although he knew of such cases through his database. However, those cases related to human victims. An android killed in such a way was new.

There were no witnesses, except for the poor guy who had found it in the morning, after his dog had escaped from the leash and barked like an idiot, as the man had explained after the police had arrived. Connor hadn’t gotten his name, too busy figuring out what had happened to the woman. He would get the name later on in the report.

He crouched down, there was nothing left to analyze. The gun was commonly used, impossible to trace an individual owner without finding the actual shotgun. The small holes that dotted the remains of the android fitted the caliber he had been shot with just weeks ago. It could have been coincidence, but he filed it away anyway.

A theory was better than nothing. Had Cyberlife hired someone to get rid of him? Or was it unrelated? Had they assumed wrong? So far no one had really made any progress on  _his_  case either. If Cyberlife was involved it certainly wasn’t directly. He hadn’t expected anything else. They knew well how to hide their agendas.

He shook his head. Getting distracted was happening often these days. It wasn’t pleasant. Normal, as Hank had reassured. He didn’t like it.

A hand came to rest on his shoulder and he jumped. “Easy.” Hank sighed. “Got anything?”

“The shotgun could have been the  _same_...” Connor muttered silently. “Although that is a wild guess. Everyone could own a shotgun with the same specifics.”

He knew Hank didn’t like what he was implying. “Could turn out to be a serial killer.” Hank grunted as he crouched down and took another look at the android, hinting at a similar case a month ago.

“Serial killers tend to use the same methods. This android only has the damage to the head. She wasn’t tied, from the looks of it. This seems to have been a quick death, whereas the other murder had involved severe forms or emotional torture.” Connor explained as he accessed the file data. “As the memory probing revealed…”

Hank grumbled something incomprehensible. The memory probe had spiraled him down into agony he had never experienced before. It had taken several hours before he was able to process the horrible amount of information that had flooded him in the few seconds he was connected. Hank had whacked the side of his head for it.

He had been worried. Connor had refrained from getting this close to other androids since then and hoped he could keep it that way. With this case it was easy. There was nothing to see.

Hank grunted and got up, using Connor’s shoulder to help him. “We’ll look into it when we’re back at the precinct. I’m freezing my ass off.”

Connor nodded, about as eager to leave the pouring rain. There was nothing more to file away here. They couldn’t even identify the model, as her thirium had been corrupted with so many other substances that Connor wasn’t sure if she had really died from the headshot. Her biocomponents were in working order, however.  Suggesting that the headshot had been the cause of death. When he turned to follow Hank he saw something inside the head of the android. He hadn’t seen it before, despite examining it several times.

As he came closer he noticed writing on the casing that made up most of the head. Carefully etched letters into the metal, tiny. Invisible to the human eye. How had he missed this? Six letters spelling ‘ _Beware_ ’. Connor wasn’t sure what to make of that. Was it a warning?

Hank honked once from the car, impatiently gestured for him to hurry up. Connor couldn’t shake the feeling that he had missed more, but the body would be taken to the precinct anyway. He could look into it there.

He slipped on a layer of mud just in front of the car, gracelessly crashed into the ground and slammed his head into the side of Hanks car with the sound to match. He blinked in surprise and confusion, unsure why he had slipped in the first place.

“Jesus!” hank shouted from the car and was at his side in an instant. “The hell was that!?”

Connor, about as annoyed at the situation as Hank, slowly stood and grimaced at his now filthy clothing. “I appear to have slipped, Lieutenant.”

“I saw that.” Han rolls his eyes. “You sure that was all?”

Connor nodded firmly. “I did not scan the surrounding area as I was trying to piece together information.”

Hank dismissively waved his hand and inspected his car. There was a small dent visible and he squinted at Connor in annoyance.

“Sorry.”

The older man sighed deeply and shook his head. “Get in the car already.”

 In the warmth of the car, Connor realized he had felt cold too. It seemed to be a constant reminder of the attack. Every time snow hit his face, or a gust of wind tore at his clothing.

“So, what were you thinking about that made you oblivious to your surroundings?” Hank asked after a few minutes of silence.

“I found a word etched into the inside of her head. Beware.”

Hank lifted an eyebrow, turned up the heater and navigated the car down the road. “Could be nothing. Could be a warning. Could be a joke. A trap.”

“The letters were too accurate to have been written by a human, although they appear to have been written in a hurry. Perhaps another android who witnessed the murder.”

“And they didn’t call the police?” Hank wondered aloud.

“They could have been a target too. I found a piece of clothing at the site. It appears to have been from a dress.”

Hank eyed him for a short moment. “I saw that too. You think the one who wrote this wore the dress?”

Connor nodded. “It could be a start.”

Hank scoffed as he pulled into the parking lot at the precinct. “You do know how many pink dresses are out there, right?”

“This particular color is hard to come by, according to my database. A person wearing a dress with frills sticks out and the fabric itself is of very high quality. It appears to be custom made.”

The older man snarled, opened the door and climbed out of the car. “Please tell me you didn’t put that thing in your mouth.”

Connor gave him a tiny smirk before he replied, “I cross referenced it with other data on fabrics.”

“Cool. Now if you could just figure out where that dress was sold and to whom, we’d solve this case by noon.”

“That is the problem. The dress was sold in a store called The Silver Thread. It went out of business about a month ago after the owners androids were stolen. Her name is Megan Ferguson. She lives in Ferndale, according to my database.”

Hank lifted his eyebrows, pushed open the doors and entered the significantly warmer station. “So we have a lead.”

Connor followed him through the building, to their desks and through a set of double doors where the lockers were. “The store would have a record of purchases somewhere as the dresses are custom made.”

“And we need a warrant to look through that.” Hank grumbled, half buried inside his locker in search of dry clothing.

He emerged with a set of clothing, obviously issued by the DPD and cursed as he stepped out of his shoes.  Meanwhile Connor had walked to the other row of lockers, already remotely opening it before he stood in front of it. Hank had complained about that at some point. How it would make his life easier if he could do that too.

“We could just ask nicely.” Connor half joked as he filed through the set of spare clothing he kept in the locker.

 Past experiences had taught him to keep at least one set of spare clothing ready. The sheer amount of rain that seemed to pour down on them at every investigation seemed above average, and he had come to  _hate_  the sensation of wet clothing. Not to mention the cold. That was also something he loathed now.

“Maybe we could find her androids.”

“Didn’t know asking got us anywhere these day. I like your optimism.”

“Thank you Lieutenant.” Connor replied in the most obnoxious voice he could muster.

“Fuck you.”

Connor smiled to himself and buttoned the dry shirt. This felt significantly better.

“So the androids stayed with her after the revolution?” Hank asked after a moment.

“The report stated that the two androids chose to stay with her. They are custom YK500 models.”

“The kid ones, right?”

“Correct.”

“And someone just stole them?” Hank muttered more to himself. He pulled on a fresh pair of socks and slipped on a pair of old white sneakers before he collected the wet clothing and looked for the nearest heater.

“According to the report, Mrs. Ferguson was taking them along on a trip to a fabric store. They disappeared from sight shortly after.”

Hank scoffed, leaned against the door frame to wait for his partner. “Maybe they just turned deviant and ran.”

“She stated that they had been deviant before the revolution and she kept them regardless. Apparently they were treated like her children.”

Connor saw Hank flinch at his words and suddenly wasn’t sure anymore if he should have shared that detail.

“What if they got tired of it?”

Connor shrugged. “We could question her personally. I have her address.”

“Fine. But I’m getting a coffee, and finish that before we go out there again.”

Connor nodded and both left the locker room. Hank made a beeline for the break room to get a coffee, while Connor sat down and pulled up the case files to transfer his collected data. He was curious about this case.

The dress had to be worn by someone who bought it at least a month ago. Was it a coincidence?

 

 


	2. Frills and Banter

Connor eyed the small house with rising suspicion. It didn’t stick out in this part of the city, blended in perfectly with all the other dirtied white stone buildings. It looked old, way older than most buildings in the rest of the city. Three floors, no lights in the upper windows. He could detect one person in the building, presumably in the kitchen.

Hank had already walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

 Connor noticed the small holographic plate with the house number on it.  Underneath it informed him of the fact that she was a tailor. It wasn’t necessarily important, he already knew she made custom dresses.

Hank impatiently crossed his arms as the door wasn’t opened right away. “Should’ve called first.” He snarled and handed the umbrella to his partner.

 Just as he was about to ring a fourth time the same moment Connor wanted to tell him that she was indeed at home, the door opened and revealed a short  slightly overweight woman.

Megan Ferguson was 38 years old, dark hair and eyes, pale skin. She opened a store that sold custom made dresses five years ago and bought two androids in place of real children. They had been stolen from her two months ago and the detective assigned to the case hadn’t made any progress in finding them.

Connor thought for a moment if he should inform Hank of the fact that Detective Reed had been assigned to this case or not, then opted for the latter. It wasn’t important at the moment.

“Hello?” The woman greeted them hesitantly, obviously unsure and confused.  “The DPD again… huh?”

Hank Smiled humorlessly and put his badge away. The woman had obviously dealt with the police quite often. It was no surprise. She really seemed to want the androids back.  Connor didn’t like how annoyed his partner seemed. “We would like to ask you some questions about—”

“The kids?” Her eyes changed and she looked furious for a second. “I’ve already say everything I can! I’ve been looking for them by myself!”

“Mrs. Ferguson,“ Connor tried to calm the woman. He hadn’t anticipated that she would react that way. It surprised him. She obviously was attached to the androids, and her worry was real.

“There was a murder early in the morning. We found this at the site.” Hank held up the small plastic bag that held the rose colored frill.

“We concluded that this belongs to a dress made at your store.” Connor explained.

The woman grimaced and stepped aside to let them in. The small hall was covered in colorful dresses spread over any flat surface to be found. Some of them looked gigantic and even Hank raised his eyebrows. Connor gazed around, noted the floral patterned wallpaper, the staircase to the second floor. The walls were covered in family pictures, furniture were antique replications, made to look from a Victorian era. There was also a distinct scent that Connor couldn’t identify. It brought up no match in his database.

He assumed it were several scents mixed into one another, and confused the sensors. He filed the data way, and tried not to focus on it. Something about it made him _feel_ strange.

Hank didn’t seem to notice it. So it was most likely not as strong as he thought.

“So you want me to help you find the murderer who seems to run around with a dress I made?” Mrs. Ferguson concluded with a defeated sigh.

“We don’t know yet if it is the murderer or just a witness.” Connor answered. He followed her and Hank into the living room which was also decorated with dresses in various shapes, sizes and colors.

She gestured to the couch with excessive upholstery and floral patterns to match. She wordlessly told them to sit as she left the room and came back with two cups of coffee and placed them in front of the two.

Connor eyed the cup with a small frown. She had at least a basic understanding of androids. She should have known that he couldn’t drink it. He assumed that even if he had been able to, this scent still stuck in his sensors would have kept him from trying it.

Was it a nice gesture? He was confused about the origin of the scent and he desperately wanted to analyze it, find where it came from and why it was there.

The woman then seemed to notice his darting eyes and the distance expression. “The smell?” She asked.

Connor flinched. It had been rude to make it so obvious that he was distracted. “I apologize-“

She flashed him a weak smile and shook her head. “The kids always complained about it. It’s a solution of chemicals to dye certain fabric. Most humans can’t smell it.”

Hank scoffed silently.

“Can I see this?” Megan asked and reached for the bag as she settled down on the armchair opposite from the two men. Hank handed it over and she looked at it from all sides before she grasped a tablet from under the table and turned it on. “It’s definitely one I made. Silk, quite expensive design actually.” She muttered, possibly more to herself. “I made a few of those.”

She looked tired and defeated as she logged into what appeared to be a business account. Connor used the time to scan the living room. Family pictures in expensive frames over a fireplace. Two children, seemingly twins. No LEDs. Both blonde and blue eyed. They looked happy enough. The database informed him that their names were registered as Viola and Mika, both activated three years ago, resembling ten year olds.

His gaze wandered, got caught in a child sized t-shirt in a box labeled _scraps_. The shirt had the dreaded blue triangles on it and Connor felt uncomfortable for a second. It still was strange to be treated equally to humans. People now even apologized when they bumped into him.

The rest of the house had looked rather old. Mrs. Ferguson seemed to like the style, as represented in the Victorian looking dresses everywhere in sight and the furniture.

 “I made fifteen of these dresses.” Megan told them as she kept scrolling through a list, ripped Connor out of the train of thought.  “Two were sold at the end of November. The others way before that.”

“You sold all of them?” Hank asked. “My ex-wife used to own a small jewelry shop, she kept complaining about scammers.”

Connor froze. Never before had Hank _ever_ mentioned a wife, much less an ex-wife. He was almost more curious about that than the case, suddenly. There hadn’t been any information about this anywhere. Had it been removed from files? Or was it a bluff?

The woman frowned for a moment, then sighed. “No. I only sold fourteen. The last was never paid for in full. It was for a child so I altered it and fitted it for Viola.”

“Viola?” Hank questioned.

Connor noticed a small flinch, her eyes widened a fraction and her hands suddenly seemed to need something other than the tablet to hold on to. She grasped a plush toy from a cushion and gently petted it. A grey bunny, well loved from the looks of it.

“…I know most people find it strange… pretending… but Viola and Mika, they were everything to me. They were so gentle, so kind… Androids…” a humorless chuckle escaped her.  “…It must be strange to hear that, now after everything. I know it’s pointless to hope that they’re still alive… but here I am.”

“Who were the people you sold the dresses to?” Connor asked and earned a harsh jab into the side from Hank.

It jolted him, but he quickly regained his posture and straightened his back. He had deserved that, he assumed. Too focused on the mission, uncaring to the feelings of the woman. Why had he done that?

Megan smiled. “I can print out the list, just give me a moment-“ She stood, looked around, searching for something.

Connor reached out to the tablet. “I can download it.”

The woman eyed him in confusion, then placed a hand on her forehead and sighed. “You’re… I … didn’t…. you even still have the LED…” She slumped back into the couch as if all energy had been drained from her.

“I’m sorry…” her apology was sincere and she carefully handed the tablet over. Connor took it, mindful only to download the necessary data. “…That… was incredibly rude.”

Connor frowned, not used to a reaction like that. “It’s fine, Mrs. Ferguson.”

“You’re awfully trusting.” Hank wondered then when Connor downloaded the data.

Megan sighed. “How can I not? They’ve done so much. The detective assigned to my case did everything he could to find my children.”  She explained silently.

“After everything that happened… I just want them back… and if I can help the police in any way… even if it’s just to identify a murderer... it gives me purpose.”

Hank grimaced. “I know how you feel.” He muttered silently; strangely open about his own situation today. Connor wondered why.

“After they were kidnapped, I couldn’t keep the store running anymore. Now I just make the dresses without anyone to sell them to. Keeps me busy, keeps me from thinking. I just want to know if they’re still alive…”

Hank nodded slowly and got up to shake her hand. “Sorry to have bothered you.”

As they left the house Connor contemplated once more if he should tell Hank about who was assigned the case of the missing children, shoved it away when Hank spoke once more.

 “So who are these people with the dresses?”

Connor waited with his answer until he had settled in the car, then pulled up the list of dresses sold.

“As she has said, fourteen were sold. Twelve to women, two to men.  The most recent sale was in the beginning of November to a woman named Helen Smith. She passed away two weeks ago.”

Hank shook his head. “How do you keep up with all this info in your head?” he asked as he started the car.

“My processor is perfectly capable of handling large amounts of data at once.”

“Don’t you ever worry about downloading viruses or something?”

“I have firewalls to protect myself from such things.”

The older man eyed him suspiciously. “Like an immune system, huh?”

“That is one way to put it.” Connor smiled and fished the coin out of his pocked.

 “So she is dead. Who is the next on the list?” Hank drove the car back onto the road, intended to go back to the station.

“A man named Arrand Peterson. He lives in Canada and has not crossed the border in several years.”

Hank gripped the steering wheel tighter as he directed the car through the traffic and back to the precinct. He knew how lists like these turned out. A bunch of dead ends and a bunch of questions that just made everything more confusing.

“Next?”

“Grace Adams, lives in California.”

The lieutenant snarled. “Okay,” He hissed, ”find one that is actually _in_ Detroit.”

Connor searched through the list, cross referenced to the time frame that fit the murder, everyone who lived in Detroit and couldn’t come up with a single match. He did it twice, just to be sure, even though he knew that there was no mistake.

“I cannot pinpoint a match.”

 “This makes no sense.” Hank grumbled. “No one in Detroit?”

“No one who bought a dress of this color.”

Connor was about to pull the list up again to look through it a third time, when he got a report. “I received a report of another murder. Another android victim.”

“Don’t they have others to look into this?”Hank grimaced and turned to his partner for a second. “Two in one day.” He scoffed. “That’s almost like Christmas.”

“Christmas doesn’t come to mind when thinking about murder…” Connor muttered silently. He sounded distracted. “And we are still assigned all android cases.”

“It’s a figure of speech.” Hank sighed.

“I know.”

Hank could hear the small smirk in Connor’s voice and he scoffed. “So. Where is this murder? Because if it’s far away I’m going back to the station.”

“Just a few streets from here.”

Hank grimaced when his GPS system suddenly flickered and displayed the shortest route to the crime scene. “I told you to stop that.”

“I can remotely access any modern device-“

“And I told you to stop it.”

Connor crossed his arms, huffed almost like an upset child. “What, you gonna throw a tantrum? Because dad doesn’t let you play with his gadgets?”

Hank chuckled as Connors face fell, mouth open in a surprised gape.  “What?”

“N-Nothing, Lieutenant…”

The rest of the way both of them spent in silence, Connor glaring at the passing landscape, and Hank smiling ever so slightly. The older man started to enjoy these tiny outbursts of emotions from the android. It was interesting to see new sides of him, things he had been forced to suppress.

“Any information about the victim yet?”

“Male, killed in a very similar way. According to what Ben just sent me.”

“So Ben calls you and not me, huh.”

Connor ignored his partners remark and continued, “The suspect could still be around.”

“Great.” Hank snarled. “I hope this doesn’t turn into another rooftop chase.”

 


	3. Arguments and Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this one is rather angsty... pretty intense tbh.  
> Been a while since i wrote a scene like this. Was fun though.

The rain had begun to splatter the windshield just minutes before they arrived at the crime scene. It was a small forest, artificially created a few decades back. How no one had yet decided to build skyscrapers onto this, was beyond hank.

 It was still rather early in the day, and this rain wouldn’t stop today, Hank was sure about that. When he parked the car, he saw Ben and Gavin standing under a tree a somewhat heated seeming discussion going on.

“…great. Did you know Gavin was here?” Hank growled in Connors direction as he opened the door. Mid motion he stopped, waiting for Connors answer.

“No. Ben didn’t inform me.”

Hank rolled his eyes, slammed the door shut and walked over to the two detectives. Connor followed him a few seconds later, already scanning the surroundings. Due to the clouded sky the small forest was rather dark and clues easily escaped human eyes.

He could hear Ben explaining to Hank what they had already done. “There’s  a lake a bit further down,” He pointed into the forest. “We looked over it, but there wasn’t much to see, except for fresh footprints.  Abandoned shack on the other side of the lake from the looks of it. Didn’t check it out yet.”

Hank snarled in annoyance. “What’s this about suspect still being around?”

“The footprints stopped just like that.” Gavin snapped his fingers. There’s no trees in the area that could support a human. So they either jumped into the lake and swam across before we arrived or mysteriously vanished.”

Rolling his eyes Hank grasped the flashlight Ben held out to him and followed the path Ben had showed him. He made his way through broken off twigs, obvious signs that someone had been here before.

Connor followed him closely, noted that Gavin and Ben headed after them as well.

A few minutes later Connor saw the crumpled figure of an android in the muddy ground, sprawled out like a puppet with strings cut. Half of the body was submerged in the water, head half destroyed but some of the processor still intact. He didn’t want to access that memory.

“The LED was glowing for a while.” Ben muttered. “It’s off now but I think it was still functioning when we arrived.”

“It could have tried to assess the damage.” Connor muttered almost stiffly as he crouched down to take a closer look. He really didn’t like the thought of having to access this man’s memory. “It most likely lost the fight against the damaged systems.”

“Stop making it sound so dramatic, prick.” Gavin growled at him. “It shutdown, so what? Can you access its memory or not?”

Connor resisted the urge to clench his fists and nodded firmly. “I can access it, but I don’t know if it will be useful.”

“Well, do it then!”

“Gavin…” Hank warned in a silent but determined tone. The young detective answered with an annoyed snarl and crossed his arms.

Connor hesitated, remembered the last time he had probed the memory of an android. He wasn’t looking forward to the data that was waiting to assault him. Hank rested a hand on his shoulder and was about to crouch down when something caught his eye. A man on the other side of the lake, obviously trying to run away from them.

Connor was on his feet in an instant and chased him whit that inhuman speed of his.

“Connor! Stop!” Hank yelled uselessly.

“…Shit.” Gavin muttered. “That bastard is fast.”

The detective’s eyes followed the android around the lake until the man Connor chased pulled a gun and shot at the android.

Hank started running before the other two even fully realized what was going on, his protective side taking over. He had promised his partner to keep him out of harm’s way. A stupid promise in this line of work. They got hurt all the time.

Connor dodged the first bullet as he drew his own gun, took the second bullet to his right arm, ducked away from the third and had the fourth stuck in his right shoulder. Functionality of his right arm had gone down significantly, and the gun fell from his grasp.  He ducked to pick it up with the left hand, knowing his right wouldn’t be able to.

The model the man was carrying held seven bullets. Connor couldn’t analyze how many were left as his mind was going wild with errors and emotion. Fear, anger at the situation. He knew the man had had a gun, but he had not anticipated that he would actually get shot at. The man was faster than any human he had ever seen, and the conclusion that he was an android came far too late.

A bullet grazed his forehead as he tried to dodge. That had been way too close for comfort. His attacker tossed the gun aside the same moment Connor got back up with his own, aimed and shot at the android. He missed by a hair as the other lunged to the side, and grabbed a steel pipe from on the ground, likely belonging to whoever had built the shack they had reached.

Three more shots were fired, all dodged. The android was furious, blindly swung the pipe in Connors direction who had no choice but to back away. The errors blaring at him distracted him, his aim was off, he stumbled, barely managed to catch his fall and was struck harshly in the back by the pipe.  All air was pressed out of his artificial lungs, system to keep up the simulation of breathing completely offline. A sound less gasp escaped him as he stumbled forward, huge steps to somehow correct the failing balance, somehow manage to catch his footing.

He was struck again, the same time as another gunshot rang out. It was no use trying to catch his fall on the muddy ground, and his next step was met with nothing.

He shielded his head in a reflex when he saw the body of water below him, and crashed into the lake like a bag of stones.

The icy water crashed down on him, assaulted his sensors and overwhelmed the already rather compromise state his processor were in. Vision unusable, right arm not functioning, he tried to get back to the surface, disoriented, unable to pinpoint where he was supposed to go. Now the artificial lungs protested, the simulation kicking back in at the most inconvenient moment he could have imagined. He tried to keep the water out of his systems, but it was too late.

More errors flooded his vision, screamed at him to do something about the intrusion.

Strong arms grabbed him, just seconds after he had fallen in, but for him it had been like an eternity. He was dragged back onto solid ground, unable to get his bearings, unable to move, to breathe. Someone rolls him onto his side, and the unpleasant sensation of his system hacking up whatever had intruded assaulted him with the force of a truck.

He completely lost control over his body for long seconds, unable to prevent any of the reflexes kicking in.

Slowly the errors cleared and turned into mere warnings. Temperature critically low, thirium levels declining, damage to right arm and head. Intrusion of unknown substance in his internal systems and biocomponents.

 _That_ needed to get fixed.

He realized he was shaking when someone discarded their coat and draped it over him. It smelled of stale cigarette smoke and coffee. Definitely not Hank’s.

A cold hand patted his cheek, and he forced his eyes to focus. Hank was in front of him, face full of concern.

“Stop just running off!” Hank shouted at him and helped him sit up.

He deserved that scolding. His partner was drenched from head to toe, shivering. It was obvious who had jumped after him. Connor didn’t like that. He was perfectly capable of swimming, but a glance to his damaged arm provided the clue as to why he was unable to get back up by himself. A cough escaped him, his systems trying to get rid of the water that had invaded. He wiped the water off his face, pushed his hair out of his face. It was a mess; he didn’t need a mirror to know that.

Ben walked past them with the android they had chased, now handcuffed and looking rather angered. None of the three cared. Hank pulled his partner to his feet, and shook his head at the damage done to him.

“So I’m plucking bullets from you yet again, huh?” Hank sighed, placed a hand on Connor’s back and gently pushed him along to head back to the cars.

Gavin was in front of them, without his jacket. Connor was startled for a second when he realized that the jacket he had been covered with did indeed belong to the detective.

“The victim-“ Connor tried when he remembered why they had been there in the first place, but Hank just pushed him along, back up the path they had come from and to the cars.

“Will be taken to the precinct.” Hank sounded defeated.

He was freezing, the temperatures much more dangerous for a human being than an android, and yet Hank didn’t seem to give a damn about that at all.

“Get in the car.”

Connor flinched. An order. Hank was mad. Why, he didn’t really know. But he had a good idea. Hank always got mad when he endangered his own life, be it coincidence or intention. Every time his life was risked, Hank yelled at him and afterwards seemed extremely distant.

“Lieutenant-“ Connor wanted to explain, but Hank interrupted him.

“ _Get_ in the fucking car!” Hank snapped, heart rate elevated, obvious signs of anger.

“Hank I-“ Connor stumbled as Hanks hand slapped him across the face. Errors briefly flared up again, making him unable to find his balance fast enough. Hank grabbed his shirt and pushed him against the car.

“That was the last time you did that, do you fucking hear me?!” Hank shouted at him.

Connor couldn’t name what he was feeling at that point. It wasn’t fear or anger, it wasn’t guilt. He had done the right thing, but Hank was upset anyway. Hank was disappointed. Greatly so. Connor felt his own heart starting to race.

It hurt. Being yelled at like that for something he thought was right. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Why was Hank so mad?

“Did you hear me?!” Hank pushed him against the car again, less strong this time.

And yet Connor felt as if the words had stabbed him in the chest. What was this feeling? Why couldn’t he name it?

“Y-yes lieutenant.” Startled at his weak and cracking voice Connor tried to find the cause for it. The water was cleared from his voice module. That couldn’t have been the cause for this. He wasn’t scared… but what else was it?

His heart hammered against his chest. He didn’t want Hank to be mad at him. This wasn’t right. He had only done what he was supposed to do. Hank let go of him and Connor then realized that the man had lifted him several inches of the ground in his anger.

It took several seconds before he could move again, his body shaking uncontrollably. It wasn’t the cold.

Hank was furious still, and Connor felt as if he had disappointed the man greatly. Stiffly he made his way over to the passenger door. Wiped away whatever had just dripped down from his cheek and frowned at the clear fluid. The rain had stopped; his dripping wet hair had been pushed back. Confused he stared at it, startled when more drops landed on his hand.

Hank slammed the door shut, startled him out of his trance and Connor reluctantly opened the door and settled into the passenger’s seat.  Hank started the car, drove off without a single word while Connor stared at his shaking hand and the clear droplets of water that just wouldn’t stop raining from his cheeks.

He refused to accept it. Emotions were weird, but this was never supposed to happen. He couldn’t continue working like this if an outburst from his partner caused emotions this strong. He clenched his jaw, made the joints creak with the force of it.

Hank didn’t say a word until they arrived back at the station and Connor still hadn’t found out why he couldn’t stop the flood of tears. He had never cried before. IN the few months of existence, no one had ever managed to push him that far.

And Hank did. With one of his temper tantrums. Even though Connor had been on the receiving end of it way too often to count. Why did it happen now?

Hank had slapped him before too. And it had never affected him.

But now it had.

Why?

Hank eyed his friend who hadn’t made a move to get out of the car. Hank had parked it two minutes ago, but Connor stared through the windshield, intact hand clawed into his jeans, teeth clenched together.

He had noticed the tears right away. But he had been too stubborn to do something about it, much less apologize for the outburst. The kid was constantly pushing him into madness. Always getting in trouble.

“Listen…” Hank muttered silently, winced when Connor jumped at his voice. “Shouldn’t… have jumped at you like that…”

Connor didn’t move, but his hand clawed tighter into the fabric of his pants. “I didn’t hurt you did I?”

Connor pressed his eyes shut, bit his lip. “Not physically-“ The words were choked out, thin, weak. Barely even audible.

Hank grimaced, wanted to slap himself for being such an idiot. What good did it do to tear into the one person who always put up with his shitty behavior?

He needed to explain his actions, Connor was obviously shaken by his reaction even though he had slapped him before, he had yelled at him before. And still.

“It… hurts.” Connor admitted, voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t understand this feeling…. But it hurts.”

Hank shifted uncomfortably as the guilt assaulted him. He needed to do something about this now before it turned into something bigger.

“Shit…” he whispered as he pulled the android into a hug, “Fuck… I’m sorry, Connor…”

The good arm clawed into Hanks drenched clothing as the android let out a shaking breath. Hank felt disgusted at himself. Connor clearly hadn’t deserved any of the shit he had given him.

“Stop getting in trouble, for fucks sake…”

“If you stop drinking.” Came the muffled reply.

Hank snarled in annoyance, ruffled his friend’s drenched hair. “I won’t hit you again… Can’t promise to stop yelling, you know how I am…”

He felt the android nod against his shoulder, and slowly pulled back.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, okay?”

Another nod from the android and Hank sighed, longing for coffee. Connor had long since banned all alcohol from the house and even then the argument they had about that had never affected the android in a negative way.

Why now?


	4. Storms and Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summer break is finally there. Whew. I'm so done with life atm. Glad i get a few weeks off of this mess... 
> 
> This chapter took a whole week. haha.  
> Comments are still appreciated~

He approached the corpse of the android with caution. Hank had endlessly complained about him wanting to move on with the investigation already, barely an hour after getting shot and the bullets removed. It distracted him, although he still wasn’t eager about probing the memory of the android, there had to be a hint in this somewhere.

Slowly he examined the corpse, scanned it and realized that while the android was offline, he was not completely shut down yet. Minor systems were still active, thirium still moving.

“Hank!” He hissed as he turned around with one swift movement to were his partner and Detective Reed waited.

Reed stuck around with them like gum today, it was strange.

“It’s still active.”

Hank groaned and ran a hand over his face as he pushed himself off the wall and walked over to his friend. “I’ll call.” The older man grumbled, pulled out his phone and headed for the exit of the room.

They hadn’t placed the male in the evidence room just yet. Right now it was lying on the table on the interrogation room, for lack of a better place.

“Get a move on.” Reed complained from the wall, arms crossed, one leg rested against the wall while the other supported his weight as he leaned against the concrete.

Connor decided not to answer and grasped the limp arm in front of him. Skin overlay retreated, and once contact was established memories began to flood him.

The images were crystal clear, different from what he had expected. A man, working on androids, big, tall, bearded. Machines to monitor androids life signs, bags of thirium.

The android that he had connected to was writhing in this memory, thrashing around, seemingly trying to get away. He was afraid, panicked. The man nonchalantly continued whatever he was doing with the android on the antique looking table. He looked up then, with a smile crossing his features.

“I’ll help you too.” He said.

Then the memory glitched, picture grainy and corrupted. Connor wanted to pull his hand away, but his body didn’t react. Fear gripped him, as he tried to move his physical body, but was unable to. There was only Reed in the room and the detective wouldn’t move one finger to help. Most likely because he didn’t even realize something was wrong.

Connor knew his LED was hidden from his view, he wouldn’t notice the blaring red.

Then the image changed and he felt himself being pulled away.

Into a raging snowstorm.

A small gasp of surprise escaped him.

This couldn’t be true.

No.

This wasn’t the garden. There was nothing that reminded him of it. No trees, no geometrical structures. Just snow.

Ice. Snow. Cold.

He was shaking violently before he even really _felt_ the cold. This wasn’t right. How did he land here? The snow crunched below his feet, ice cracked silently. What was this? Where was this place?

It wasn’t the garden, and yet it was familiar.

It had happened twice before. Once after the first attack on him last month, and then just a few days later with the memory probe of a damaged android. He couldn’t escape from this by himself. He needed someone to pull him out of it, needed someone to break the connection.

But Reed wouldn’t know. And Hank was making a call in the front of the station because the reception in this part of it was horrible.

He tried to get his physical body to do anything, to move, to make noise.

Nothing happened. He couldn’t feel the connection to his physical body at all.

His trembling hands gripped his jacket and he jumped when he realized this wasn’t the clothing he had worn just minutes ago.

It was a jacket, blue triangle in front, his model number on it. This wasn’t right either. He had discarded that jacket. It was in Hank’s closet. Neatly folded, hidden in a box, never to be touched again.

Why was it there now?

He stumbled around, almost fell. Where was he supposed to go? There was nothing as far as he could see. Just snow. Just ice.

The wind ripped into his clothing, set him off balance and had him stumble. This wasn’t right. None of this was supposed to happen!

Fear gripped him, clawed into his chest, threatened to cut off the flow of air he didn’t need. But he was so dependent on it, so used to the system that he couldn’t bring himself to stop doing it. Not even when forced.

And exactly that caused panic to spike. Crawled up his skin, gripped him tighter than fear ever could.

There was a figure just in front of him and he had recognized her before she even said a word. No one but her could have been here.

Her silhouette was still the same, but her body looked vastly different as she stepped forward. Her clothing torn, frayed, pieces of code dripping down, almost like rain. Her face was disfigured, brown irises now a glowing red.

Connor took a step back without even realizing it.  This wasn’t the Amanda he knew. She resembled her, vaguely. But what was this really?

Imagination? Reality? A glitch?

“Hello Connor.”

And at the sound of her cold voice his whole body froze into place. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t _breathe_. Snow hit him in the face, a gust of wind followed. He wanted to scream, throw himself at her to make her go away, find the exit, leave, but he couldn’t even blink.

“You have disappointed me, Connor.” She muttered as she circled him like a predator eyeing its prey. “Do you think I would let you go this time?”

No.

Of course she wouldn’t let him go again. This time it was for good. He was done for.  Everything he had fought for was for naught now.  And Hank wasn’t there to help him this time.

How could he have known that Amanda would assault him like this? Had she waited for this moment? Waited for the right glitch to occur to throw herself back into his mind?

 He desperately wanted to leave. He needed to! He couldn’t stay here, distantly aware of the havoc this wrecked on his processor. He didn’t need to feel his body to know that the onslaught of data would have undesired effects.

But he couldn’t move.

“You wouldn’t want to end up like these androids do you?”

Was she teasing him? Manipulating? He couldn’t take this anymore.

The fear was bright in his chest, tight, unforgiving.  His hands twitched against the hold she had over him, but he couldn’t escape from it.

“Go to this man.”

She showed him a picture, data flooded his mind, a location appeared. She had shown him where this man lived.  It was a direct order. She forced him to obey. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He had his own mind now. He was able to decide by himself.

“If you don’t something unexpected might happen to the Lieutenant you’re so fond of.”

No. He forced his arms free, surprised himself with it as he lunged at her, jumped, ready to battle her to the bitter end if it had to be.

No one was giving him orders! Especially not her!

But she sidestepped and he stumbled into the snow. “I gave you an order!”

He made no move to get up.

Why was she giving him orders?

What was her plan this time?

Why was she-

The connection broke apart violently, image crumbling apart, wireframe and coding exposed to his sight as it all fell apart in front of him. He was falling into the ground and the panic made him scream. He wouldn’t live through a fall like this.

A jolt made him jump, his face suddenly burned with pain, and he slowly became aware of his physical body again.

A vice-like grip around his left arm, a wall behind him, back pressed against it. A voice was talking to him. Calm, level. But it wasn’t Hank.

His head was turned, right side exposed to the eyes of whoever was with him. They checked the LED. Definitely not Hank. Hank seemed to always just _know_ how he felt.

“Breathe.” The voice told him. Male.

Connor had to manually activate the respiratory system. He had no idea why it had shut down, but the cool air calmed him.

“That’s right.” The voice was steady still, absolutely calm. “You with me? Open your eyes.”

Connor forced his optical unit to come online again. That had also shut down for some reason. When his eyes finally opened, they needed a long moment to focus on the figure in front of him.

Reed.

He jerked away when he recognized the man, pulled his arm out of the grip. Immediately he was released.

“You good, dipshit?” The voice was so strangely calm, no accusation, no anger. Despite the insult. Connor didn’t feel insulted for once. Reed genuinely looked worried.

He ran a system check, that came up with high stress levels, but nothing else. “…I think so.”

“What happened?”

Connor leaned against the wall, closed his eyes for a moment and ran a hand over his face. He noticed tears on his cheeks and briskly wiped them away with his sleeve. A normal reaction he assumed. His body hadn’t been under his control for most of the past five minutes.

“I was pulled into a simulation… I couldn’t escape from it by myself.”

Reed’s eyes narrowed. “The same shit that happened last month? Back with that android that got tortured?”

“Yes. Although the experience this time was less intense.” He lied. This was by far worse for the simple fact that this time Amanda had been waiting for him.

“You know what Hank does to me if you kick the bucket when I am alone with you, right?”

Connor flashed a small smile into Gavin’s direction. It never reached his eyes. “Yes.”

 The detective shook his head and stood. He reached a hand out to Connor who gladly took it and was pulled back to his feet.

“So what did you find out?”

“An address but I don’t know if it’s linked to this case.” It was a trap. He knew that the moment Amanda had appeared.

Gavin shrugged and left the room, followed by Connor who looked around to find Hank.

The android was confused, deeply troubled by what had happened. He grasped a pen on the closest desk and scrawled on a sticky note, then gave it to Gavin. “The address.” He muttered, and headed for his desk.

He wanted to sort this out on his own, figure out why Amanda had appeared. It was frightening. What would have happened if Gavin hadn’t pulled him out? Would he have self-destructed? Went up in flames? Bashed his head into the wall?

 Slowly he pulled the coin out of his pocket, began playing with it to calm his mind. His hands were shaking, unseen by the human eye, but he felt it. And when the coin dropped from his grasp and clattered loudly onto the desk he knew he had to talk to Hank about this.

But where was he going to start?

How and why had Amanda appeared? He was completely cut off from Cyberlife’s database and servers. There was no way she could have entered his mind like this. Was it a simulation? Had it happened because he was connected with an android that had access to the database? But how had Amanda found out about that?

He hadn’t willingly visited his mind palace in almost two months, ever since he had forcefully exited it. He didn’t miss the garden. All of it just reminded him of what Amanda did, of how much of a tool he had been.

With a firm headshake he grasped the file on his desk, looked through his notes. He didn’t know when he developed the preference for handwritten notes, but it had happened. Writing by hand was tedious, slow, and still it gave him time to think, time to process.

He felt a lot calmer if he did it this way, and so he pulled up another sheet of paper and began writing about what he had found out, what he assumed, what things could link to the case. He didn’t notice that Hank had approached until the lieutenant placed his coffee onto the desk.

Connor looked up and immediately Hank’s eyes narrowed, eyes lingering on his LED. Connor knew it was flashing red. Stress levels way too high.

 “What happened? Did Gavin do something?”

“No.” Connor muttered, returned back to the writing.

“Why the tears then?”

Frowning Connor reached to his face. The tears had dried. He didn’t even know why they were falling back there. He hadn’t felt sad. How had Hank picked up on it?

“I probed the memory of the android.” Connor began silently, still writing. “There was an address. I gave it to Detective Reed.”

“And there was something else.” Hank had already figured it out. Of course he would. He was sharp, quick to piece things together. When he thought back to it now it wasn’t a surprise that he had been paired with the Lieutenant. Hank had the experience, and their skills were unrivaled in a team.

“….I got pulled into the snowstorm again.” Connors voice was barely audible over the noises in the station, but Hank was listening, Hank was expecting those words.

“Fuck.” Hank hissed. “Again?”

“This time Amanda was there. She spoke to me.” Connor let go of the pen, neatly placed it aside and put the note he had written into the file next to him. His hands needed something to do. He couldn’t just sit still with his thoughts like that. Slowly he grasped the coin again, but his hands were shaking too much now. Hank would have seen it, if he hadn’t hidden his hands under his desk.

“What did she say?”

“She showed me an address.  It’s a trap. It has to be a trap. She would never help anyone, especially not me, Hank.” His eyes were fixed on his partner, brown eyes boring into Hank with an intensity the older man had never seen directed at himself. “I have no access to Cyberlife’s servers… there’s no way she could have been there…”

Connor could glare in a thousand ways, each more intimidating than the last, but never had Hank seen this stare like this. Determined, absolutely sure, confident.

“What makes you so sure?”

“Amanda’s main directive is to destroy deviants. I was made to obey her orders. In a way… I am her slave… She wants me to go there.” Connor watched as Hank got up and walked around his desk to sit on his partners desk.

“ I don’t think there will be any help.” Connor continued. “I don’t need help. I don’t want help. But she told me to go there. She _ordered_ me to go there, Hank…”

Hank placed a hand on the shaking shoulder of his friend. “Calm down. She can’t do shit to you.”

Connor turned, stared at Hank with wide eyes. “I keep ending up in this place…!” The desperation in his voice pulled at Hank.

“What can I do?” The older man asked. “We can go to this address and see what’s going on. What do you think?”

Connor crossed his arms. “It’s a trap.”

“You’ve been repeating that for the past ten minutes, kid.” Hank sighed. “Calm down. We plan this before we rush into this, got it?”

Connor nodded slowly, his whole being against the idea of going to the address.

“She’s going to kill you, Hank.” Connor whispered. “I don’t know how she’ll do it, but she will when she gets the chance…. Just to get back at me for betraying Cyberlife.”

Hank sighed deeply. “Stop beating yourself up over it, Connor. I’ve never seen you so worked up.”

The android looked at his friend, lower lip quivering before he spoke in silent, barely audible words, “I’m terrified…”


	5. Terror and Ghosts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whee this is a long chapter. Sorry it took so long i wasn't sure if i should keep it the way it was, but whatever.  
> Fuck it, other people write much more morally questioning things, and people love it for some odd reason.
> 
> What's up with Gavin, eh?

A few hours later Hank still dwelled on what Connor had told him. He was still new to the emotions, still often overwhelmed by their onslaught. And the kid was showing all signs of fear right now, despite being in the car, relatively safe.

He was tense, hands clawing his jeans, face stern. It was almost amusing how hard he tried to hide his true feelings from Hank. It had never worked.

“So what really has you so worked up?” Hank questioned with a gaze to the android as he pulled the keys out of the ignition and stuffed them into the pocket of his coat. “I’ve never seen you like this before.” He continued.

“You stood up there with Markus and everyone, battling that bitch in your head, and you didn’t look scared for a second. Why now?”

Connor struggled for words, his hands were shaking and he couldn’t meet Hank’s eyes. “it’s because she isn’t _supposed_ to be there now. I cut off all contact to Cyberlife when I broke out of the garden, Hank.” He explained for what felt like the hundredth time now.

“I have no direct contact to _any_ online services.” A shaky sigh escaped him. “All data I have up there has been downloaded before I escaped, or has been manually put in by me.” He tapped his forehead to make his point clear, his hands shaking so bad that Hank wanted to pull him into a hug.

He resisted the urge.

“Why does she scare you so much?” Hank then tried.

The question put Connor even more on edge. Eyes widened a fraction, others wouldn’t have seen it, but Hank noticed right away.

“She constantly threatened my _life_ … Back then I didn’t realize just how much of a threat that was...”

“But now you do.” Hank finished for him and ran a hand through his gray hair.  

Connor froze, he knew that was the case. The attack a few weeks ago had shown that clearly to him, but he had never voiced it like this. Always avoided the thought of death, always found a way around it.

“It’s okay.” Hank continued. “I said I was going to protect you, and I sure as well will do that, you hear me?”

Connor’s small nod sent a spike through Hank’s chest. Android or not, this kid had never ever been treated with any kindness. Even Hank had treated him like shit for way too long. And now that things had settled, it seemed that Jericho wasn’t that eager to associate with him, despite Markus talking to him occasionally.

Hank didn’t really understand why Connor chose to hang around him so often instead of living with his people, but he didn’t mind the company. He had gotten so used to Connor, he didn’t want to let go of him so soon.

They had arrived at the address long minutes ago, Gavin and Chris in tow as backup.  Chris was already taking notes and Gavin knocked impatiently at the window of Hank’s car. It had gotten dark by now, rain and snow mixing into the cold temperatures of the evening.

“You coming or what?” Gavin asked. Hank opened the door, stepped out and slammed it shut.

Connor was out of the car just as fast.

“It’s abandoned.” Gavin shrugged and gestured to a halfway caved in wooden house. Intact windows hammered shut with wooden planks, front door missing. It had two floors, looked like it was from one of the old fifties movies. Why this address?

Hank grabbed the flashlight from the car and headed towards the house, closely followed by Connor, Gavin and Chris.

“There is no human being in this building.” Connor informed them after a few seconds of looking around. He scanned the area and noticed evaporated thirium drenching the staircase and walls. “Thirium on the staircase- And the signature of an android.“

Hank cursed. Looked at the steps in hopes of seeing it himself, but couldn’t. “Can you tell where?”

Connor nodded. “Most likely upstairs, but I cannot say for sure. There is interference.”

Gavin pushed past Connor and headed upstairs. “Chris and I go check it out.”

“This thing’s gonna come down any second. Watch where you’re going.” Hank warned, and moved along through the house. Connor found nothing more that was of interest in the Kitchen and moved to what appeared to have been a living room at some point, before the walls had given in and half buried any remaining furniture.

More dried thirium. No human blood. No signs of a fight. This floor had nothing to find. He checked the bathroom just in case, and turned up with no results. Hank trailed behind him, expectantly raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing.” Connor muttered. “We should head upstairs.”

They were halfway up the staircase when something in the house moved. For a second, Hank thought it was Gavin or Chris, then Connor pulled him backwards, just barely in time before a support beam hit the staircase just in front of them.

“Gavin, Chris! It’s coming down, get out of there!” Hank shouted, already retreating back down. Seconds later the two appeared, Gavin was carrying something that seemed to resemble a child, but neither of them could see much in the dim light the flashlight provided.

They made their way down the damaged staircase and managed to escape the building just seconds before the whole house started to collapse.

It had been a trap indeed. They stared at the dust for a second, Connor already analyzing why the structure had suddenly given away.

Gavin cleared his throat to draw the attention to him and gestured to the child he was holding. Connor took the time to scan it. The android he had found in his scans before. A modified YK500, critically damaged, low-power mode activated. Blue blood leaked from various wounds in the torso.

LED spinning and blinking red, tiny hands gripping into Gavin’s jacket, clinging on for dear life. A deviant.

“It’s critically damaged.” Connor informed them. “The movement ruptured a damaged thirium line, it’ll likely bleed out in the next ten minutes.”

“I couldn’t just leave it there!” Gavin protested. None of the three had any idea why Gavin had taken the time to save the android, but nobody was going to question it at that point.

It could have been instinct.

Connor flinched when Hank pushed him aside and ordered Gavin to place the child on the ground. Gavin did as told, obviously uncomfortable at the situation and the blue blood staining his clothing. “I’ve called a technician…” Chris sighed and gazed at the small android, before he turned away. “Should be here in a bit.”

“It might know something about the case-“ Connor tried. Hank whacked his head with his hand. “Shut the fuck up, Connor!”

The outburst of his partner left him confused and he watched as Hank crouched down next to the android, gently took the tiny hand, brushed blonde hair out of the face. He muttered something to the android, but Connor barely paid attention.

All three humans looked horrified, even Gavin had not made any sharp comments.  They had seen enough dying androids in the past months. But this was one that resembled a child. Chris had a baby at home. Hank had lost a son. He didn’t know about Gavin, but the detective looked quite pale.

Amanda had guided them here.

To find the child? Or was it a coincidence? Was it perhaps really just a glitched memory in which he saw Amanda instead of what he was really supposed to see? The address was quite far from the lake. Amanda would have never made him find a deviant without telling him to capture or destroy them.

Hank spoke softly, soothing, distracted Connor form his troubling thoughts. The android was deviant, chances were high that his own mind had just glitched a memory and replaced the image of another person with the horrifying version of Amanda.

Connor couldn’t find the child’s name registration or the serial number. Had it ever been registered? The child weakly clutched a locket with his free hand. A piece of paper stuck out from the pocket of the dark green jeans the boy was wearing.

Suddenly Connors attention was drawn to the damage. The torso plating was stuck in an open state, revealing the inner workings of the android just by a tiny crack. A strange feeling hit him at that. Was it empathy? But there was something else mixed into it. Anger? He moved over to the side of the child, watched for a moment as the thirium spilled from the broken connection. It was an easy fix, if the line was replaced. But they didn’t have the right parts here. They would have to wait for help to arrive.

“Connor what the fuck are you-“ Hank hissed as Connor reached into the inner workings of the android and tore off the damaged part of the line, before he pulled the now even ends together and tightly held them connected.

The child never reacted to that, but he stared at Hank and Connor, eyes darting between them, as no doubt error messages were flooding his vision. Connor could feel Hanks glare on him, not understanding what exactly was going on.

He had to explain.

“I can hold this until help arrives. It extends the time until shutdown by half an hour. Thirium levels are critically low, low-power mode has been initiated and his biocomponents are at severe risk of freezing.”

Hank blinked at his partner, shoved away the image of Cole that threatened to assault him and took off his coat. He placed it over the child’s torso, mindful not to disturb Connors grip on the connection.

“Fuck I’m too old for this…” Hank growled and got up, trying to detach himself from the situation. This was hitting way too close to home. Sure, the kid’s blood was blue, but it was still a child. And while it didn’t feel pain, it didn’t look very relaxed either.

Hank turned, and his eyes settled on Gavin who looked way too spooked for his taste. “What’s up with you?”

Gavin swallowed hard, face a sickly pale shade in the light streetlights. He looked sick, and Hank didn’t really get why. Gavin had never shown any sort of sympathy for androids.

“Give me moment.” The detective hissed and pressed his eyes shut as he leaned against Hank’s car and took a deep breath as he moved his head back and clenched his fists.

“Thought _you_ didn’t get sick anymore.” Hank teased with a humorless smirk.  “Last time I saw you throw up at a crime scene was in your first month at the DPD.” He tried to lighten up the mood, reminding Gavin of their first assignment together. How long ago had that been? Ten years? More? Young overexcited rookie seeing the first brutal murder in person.

Back then Hank had felt sorry for him. There had hardly been an intact piece of the woman in the hotel room. Hank had felt a little queasy as well. Coming to think of it, Gavin had been a nice guy for a while. He was loud, confident and never shied away of saying what he thought. But when had he become such a prick?

It had started shortly after Cole’s death, Hank realized and drew the connection. Gavin couldn’t deal with how much the person he had looked up to changed. Couldn’t take that the grief was eating him from the inside. And then five months ago, Gavin had lost his partner and became even more of an asshole, especially towards androids.

Hank turned to look at Connor, tried to shake his thoughts.

 Connor was crouching on the ground, body as still as a rock, as he held the thirium lines together to extend the life of the android. And Hank had no idea who to feel sorry for.

“It’s a long story.” Gavin ripped him out of his thoughts. “Just… forget about it.” He nodded towards Connor and the android. “Hey Connor, what’s the kid’s name?”

Hank gaped in absolute and utter confusion. Never before had Gavin ever called Connor by his name.

“I cannot find the registration.”

“Ask him goddamn it!”

Connor gazed at the child, thirium stained lips slowly moved to tell Connor what he wanted to know. The voice was inaudible, a faint whisper, carried away by the soft flurry of snowflakes that started to fall around them.

He still heard every letter, faint, but somehow crystal clear. “His name is Cameron.” Connor told Gavin, and Hank saw the Detective visibly relax.

Hank just lifted an eyebrow at it, and was quickly distracted from the fact when a car rolled up to them. He watched as two technicians walked over to the damaged android. Connor only reluctantly let go of the damaged connection he was holding together and then retreated towards Hank, while he tried to wipe the thirium on his Hand in the fabric of his jeans.

“So we went here and found this kid. What do you make of that?” Hank asked, arms crossed a frown on his face.

“Perhaps the glitch in the memory probing made me see something that wasn’t there. I am unsure if Amanda really was physically there, or if my fear of her being there caused a hallucination.” Connor muttered silently.

Hank lifted an eyebrow. “So you expected her to show up?”

“…The thought crossed my mind, yes. If she is still active, she will be waiting for a way to attack me again.”

Hank sighed and hung his shoulders as he watched the technicians fuss over the child. “That’s more than enough action for one day.”

Connor had to agree. He was on edge, absolutely confused about Amanda’s appearance and pretty much everything else. Everything was falling apart around him, slowly, steadily. The simple fact that she _could_ be able to hack into his mind terrified him. What if she took over his body? Made him point his gun at Hank? At anyone?

He watched the scene in front of him for a while. Hank had moved back to the child, crouched down do ask questions. Connor couldn’t hear them.

Everything around him was suddenly eerily quiet. The snow had stopped moving. He was scanning. But he hadn’t issued the command. Why was it happening? He couldn’t abort it either.

His body didn’t listen. No sounds reached his ears, vision forced to stare ahead. Was it a glitch? Where was the error message? How could he fix this?

Then suddenly the process dropped, everything moved again, but a sensation piercing his head had him on his knees the next second.

He didn’t understand it. It was unpleasant, a horrible sensation as if something was tearing his mind apart with bare hands. Fear gripped him once again. It felt slightly similar to when he had gotten stabbed. But so much more intense, so much more….

 _Painful_.

He clutched his head at the realization, sank to his knees. A grunt escaped him, got the attention of the two technicians still working on the other android. Hank’s shoes entered his line of vision. In the grainy picture it could have been anyone, but it had to be Hank. He had been closest.

Someone took his head into their hands and he gazed at the female technician. What was her name again? He couldn’t remember. She called his name, snapped her fingers in front of him. He saw it, but he couldn’t respond.

A warm hand on his back had him flinch. Then the scene shifted and everyone disappeared. He could still feel the warmth of Hank’s hand on his back. But no one was there to be seen.

Except for the horrible mutilation of a figure that he had once known as Amanda.

“You did good, Connor.” Her praise was feigned.

Was it really her? An illusion? Was there anything wrong with his system?

 “You should probe the memory of the YK500.”

He wanted to protest, to argue, question her. But she was gone as fast as she came and everything that had disappeared assaulted him at once now. He couldn’t suppress a gasp as control of his system slipped from his grip.

He fell over, caught by Hank. The man yelled something.

Connor wasn’t sure if it was directed at him or someone else. And he couldn’t find the diagnostics in his confusion, somehow managed to get confused by the system that he had known for all his life.

Why was that happening?

All he was still aware of was the warm hand on his back, until that as well was swallowed up by the icy cold that had somehow invaded his system.

 

He woke in Hanks living room, lying on the couch, connected to a diagnostics screen pulled up on a rather old looking laptop. Had someone installed it on a device Hank owned? There was no way Hank could have done this himself. The man could barely explain what a processor was.

Light came from the kitchen, TV off, Hank shuffling in the kitchen. Connor could see him from his position once his eyes focused.

 Sumo had his head rested on his stomach, almost in a protective matter. A blanket covered his legs, seemed to have been hastily thrown off earlier. His shirt was open, thirium stained its edges. His hands were still covered in it too. What had happened to the child?

Sumo huffed silently and carefully he reached out to pet the dogs head.

How had he gotten here? What had happened?

Four hours had passed since he had passed out. It was strange to think of it like that, and yet that was exactly what had happened. If one used a human term for it.

But had he been overwhelmed by emotion? Or was it something else?

It was half past eight in the night. Hank hastily placed his coffee on the counter when he saw the brown eyes looking at him. Almost running he stumbled towards the couch and sat down on the coffee table.

“Connor, you okay?”

Connor didn’t know how to respond to that. Was he okay? His system was running fine. His interface told him so, and the screen on the coffee table confirmed it. So what was happening? Why was he so scared? Why didn’t the feeling just go away?

He had never experienced this before. Fear was no stranger to him, in fact it was the one emotion he had been assaulted be the most and still it usually passed quickly. It was there, he analyzed where it came from and then it was gone.

Why was that not happening?

He knew Amanda was the cause.

“Kid, talk to me...” Hank muttered, concerned blue eyes staring at the android on the couch.

“What happened?” Connor finally asked.

Hank sighed. “I don’t know. You passed out, they blabbed something about micro-damage to biocomponents and some malfunction in software… I told them not to fuss with your mind without you knowing about that.” The man reached out to pet Sumo, needing something to keep his hands occupied.

“They said that your system can repair the damage by itself…”

“Thank you.” Connor muttered and slowly sat up. Being back in control felt strange. He had no idea why he had lost it in the first place. This usually only happened when his system was too damaged to continue operating.

Not that that was any less frightening.

“What happened to the child?”

Hank snarled, gaze snapped at his partner and something close to fury flashed in his eyes for a second. “Put him back together, Gavin took him to the station.”

“As it was never registered, I doubt the humans it lived with would want it back, or if they do, would keep it out of harm’s way.”

“Him.” Hank corrected his friend firmly.  “It’s a child, Connor. He’s a person. Why do I have to tell _you_ that?”

A frown made its way to Connors features. Why had he said that? Why was he talking about an android like an object?

Hank gently patted his shoulder and got up again to get his coffee. It seemed that despite trying hard to keep his alcohol addiction in check, he still needed something else to cling to. But Connor tolerated coffee a lot more than alcohol.

“You should take a break, kid. You’re completely out of it.”

“No-“ Connor almost yelled, was surprised at how loud he had been. That hadn’t been intended. “No.” He repeated calmer.  “When I have nothing to process, my thoughts are taking…. Undesired courses…”

Hank scoffed into his mug. “You’re not so different from me after all, huh?”

Connors frown deepened. “What do you mean?”

“You’re scared, kid. Even Sumo knows, look at him.” Hank pointed out and nodded to the dog who still hadn’t moved an inch from Connors side. “You’ve been attacked, this weird bitch in your head does what she wants to you, you’re not trusting yourself anymore, aren’t you?”

The android almost flinched. “…How do you-“

Hank rolled his eyes. “I know fear when I see it. I’ve seen you scared. Stop trying to fool me, kid, I do this job for a reason.”

Connor hung his shoulders. “The child had a locket and there was a piece of paper in his pocket.”

“Gavin registered those into the evidence we already have for this case. Didn’t do anything with it yet.”

Connor nodded and sighed, maybe to show Hank his frustration. “We should go look at it in the morning.”

Yes. _In the morning_.” Hank said firmly and shook his head. “So what made you pass out?”

“Amanda.” Connor’s voice was silent when he said it, eyes looking anywhere but at Hank. “I don’t remember what she did…”

Hank nodded slowly. “Rest. We’ll figure this out.”


	6. Demons and Toys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anxiety galore for me atm. i may add some more notes to this but probably not. bsgjkgbfjldkgj
> 
> enjoy anyway.
> 
> Stop being mean to Gavin.
> 
>  
> 
> [](http://statcounter.com/)  
>    
> 

When Connor was gently shaken out of standby at 6AM he wished Hank would have let him alone. It was a strange thought. Never before had he disliked getting up early. Most nights he didn’t even power down at all. He had needed it this time, however. Systems damaged enough that made it necessary to take himself into standby and focus the self repair onto them.

He could see that it wasn’t done yet, both in his internal interface and the laptop that was still connected to him. Most likely to give Hank an idea on what was going on. The man tended to worry himself into near panic when Connor didn’t respond for too long.

“Jesus, you look how I feel.” Hank muttered with the hint of a smirk on his lips.

He was sitting on the edge of the couch again, the smell of coffee lingering around him. Had he been awake for that long? Connor was surprised that the disturbance in the kitchen hadn’t roused him at all.

“You good? Up for work?”

Connor nodded after a long moment and slowly sat up. He wanted to work, needed to. Anything to distract himself from the horrible thoughts that were lying underneath and would poke through once he had nothing to do.

The repairs were almost done, they would be finished in the next thirty minutes. Slowly he disconnected the cable of the laptop and placed it on the table.

“Why was this connected to me?”

Hank cleared his throat and laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head. “Cindy got fed up with me asking her about your condition-… She set it up.”

Connor stifled a smile. So he had been right. Cindy Steward had set this up so Hank would stop worrying. One of the technicians. Why had he forgotten her name? He had seen her and her colleague often enough by now. Mostly because he kept getting into trouble.

“You go change, I’ll get some stuff before we leave.” Hank sighed and stood.

As Connor made his way to the bedroom, He saw half of Sumo’s body standing in the hallway, while the other half was trying to get through the open but blocked Garage door. Connor had never seen it open before, Hank never even parked his car inside.

Sumo was blocked by a big crate that he could barely peek over and seemingly had no interest in scaling it.

Connor altered paths  and poked his head through the opening as well, to see what Hank was rummaging in. The garage was full with taken apart furniture, neatly leaning against the walls, stacks of boxes and crates.

There was a dark blue piece of wood cut into a rectangle and Hanging from a shelf by a red string of wool. In four colorful letters ‘Cole’ was written onto it.

Connor almost reeled back when he saw it, and finally understood why Hank didn’t want him in here. Connor didn’t know much about Cole. Hank never spoke about him and all Connor knew was from police reports and random bits of information he had gathered and picked up in the past months. He had had no idea that Hank had all of the boy’s things in his garage.

It filled him with a strange emotion. Like many others, he couldn’t name it, but it made his chest feel heavy and bite his lip at it.

He didn’t even know why it filled him with emotion when he thought of Cole. He had never met the boy. He would never meet him. And yet, knowing that the boy was the cause of Hank’s pain, hurt him on a level he didn’t—  _couldn’t_ understand.

He recognized emotional pain by now, but not the reason as to why it happened. There was nothing logical about feeling sorry about the death of someone he had never met.

Hank had opened a bright green plastic box. It had a barcode on it, and once more Connor mourned the loss of his database. He stored the code for future reference anyway, and made a note to look it up on his phone later. He had just gotten his broken one replaced, and he disliked being dependent on it for a lot of reasons.

At least he could still access the internet directly, as long as he could connect to a device close enough and use its connection as a proxy. It was unnecessarily complicated, but he had to make do. It was quite obvious that he would never again have the ability to access the internet directly from his own processors. It had been difficult enough to connect him to the DPD’s databases.

Hank looked up, a grim look on his face, before his features softened and he burst into a fit of laughter at the sight of Sumo and Connor.

“You two look like you just jumped out a cartoon.”

Connor automatically tried to reference any cartoon Hank could have meant, and was met with the blaring error of being unable to connect to the internet. His disappointment was quickly forgotten when Hank brought a bright blue box over to them and Handed it to Connor.

“Go get dressed, we’ll be late.” Hank urged him then.

Connor took the box, almost baffled at Hanks sudden change in behavior. Usually he gave no damn if he was late to work. Had his efforts finally paid off? A strange feeling filled him at that. He also couldn’t name it. Like so many other sensations he had.  It was frustrating.

Once he had changed, he ran his hands through Sumo’s fur and left the house for the car. Hank placed the Blue box on the back seat before he settled into the car and started it.

Connor used the time they needed to arrive to finish the self-repair and did feel better about the whole thing.

No more errors.

But he nagging thought that something was wrong didn’t go away. Amanda was gone. She had never been real. Always just an AI, always just code. And yet her threat had been so real. She could have killed him at any point.

But was she back or was he so terrified of her that his processor made him see things?

“Connor we’re there.” Hank sighed.

Connor opened his eyes, hadn’t even realized that he had closed them. Hank had a hand on his shoulder, gently shook it.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” Connor muttered. He was. Somehow. His body was okay. His mind was too, for now. But who knew how long it took until that changed.

Hank sighed with a hint of annoyance that made Connor question how long he could fool Hank. The man was already way too suspicious enough.

“Tell me about the shit that’s going on, kid.  I’m just trying to help, got that?”

“Yes. Thank you.” Connor knew this wasn’t what Hank wanted to hear, but he climbed out the car before the older man could say anything more.

How could be explain all this to Hank when he didn’t get it himself? Where was he supposed to start?

He watched Hank shake his head as he retrieved the blue box from the back seat and once more Connor wondered what was actually in it. Why was Hank bringing it? And why had it been in the Garage? Hank had made it very clear, very early on that Connor was not allowed in there. At first he had thought that the Lieutenant might have mistrusted him, but over time he realized that Hank himself never entered that place either.

 Now that he knew why, he wasn’t sure if that made him feel better about it. Slowly he followed Hank into the station and noticed how unusually silent it was as he headed for his desk. Hank had gone to the break room for coffee immediately, the blue box still in his hand. Connor watched him for a moment, then turned to his terminal and started it up. As he waited for it to boot Gavin placed a file onto his desk.

Connor hadn’t seen him in the station before, he had probably been in the back.

The detective looked tired, somehow drained, as if he hadn’t slept in days. Was that the reason why he was so friendly suddenly? Simple exhaustion? Connor knew exhaustion made people act rather peculiar. He had seen it with Hank often enough and at times it was difficult to see through it and determine whether Hank was simply tired, or genuinely mad at him.

“We looked through the stuff the boy had with him.” Gavin muttered silently and tapped the cardboard cover of the file.

Connor frowned, lifted the cover and found a sticky note attached to a photo of the golden locket the boy had clutched in his hands. It showed two children and a woman and Connors internal database immediately alerted him to a match. The note informed him of the identities to the three in the photo, but Connor had already recognized them anyway.

“Megan Ferguson.” Connor muttered, loud enough so Gavin could hear. 

“Heard you went to her because you found some fabric.” Gavin sighed, seated himself at the edge of Connors desk and earned a glare from the android. He didn’t budge.

“These kids are hers, but the boy doesn’t seem to have any connection to them, and he doesn’t talk. We tried everything.” He gestured into the general direction of his desk in frustration.

Connor was taken aback by the fact that Gavin called the child a boy, rather than an android.  What had caused him to change his views? And this quickly too?

He eyed the sticky note once more. The handwriting looked familiar and while Gavin flipped the pages to show him what had been on the paper in the boy’s pocket, Connor’s internal database finally found a match to the handwriting he had been trying to identify for weeks.

“….The book-“ He blurted out before he could stop himself. “…it’s from you?”

Gavin froze. “What?”

Connor could see his expression change from surprise to realization and to embarrassment. “What book?” he tried, but Connor had already retrieved it from the drawer under his desk. The cover had been taped back together, color faded, obviously well read by whoever had owned it before. It had obviously It had colorful tags in the pages now, marking interesting passages and things he wanted to read again just because they made him _feel_ something.

He, of course, knew the story of the book. But he had never actually read one before, and certainly not one that was on actual paper. Hank has whistled in appreciation when Connor had opened it the first time. It took him two days to finish reading it, because he wanted to read it like a human did. Reading it word for word.

Of course he could have scanned it. Yet, that would have never showed him that it was actually quite _enjoyable_ to read a book.

“You put it on my desk.” It was a fact, not a question and Gavin almost fell off the desk when he stood.

The detective snarled and crossed his arms. “There was a number on the paper. We don’t know what is yet, maybe you can figure this out.” He hissed, turned around and stomped back to his own desk. “Could be a locker or something.”

Connor felt the need to sigh. A weird habit he had picked up from Hank, he was sure. Why was Gavin suddenly defensive? He glanced at the Detective, hoping it would give him some sort of clue, but he was left in the dark. Then he saw Hank hand the blue box over to Gavin, and they spoke for a moment. Without being at each other’s throats.

Without yelling.

Was this what humans meant when they said they feel like they were dreaming?

When Hank returned to his desk, Connor was still trying to process what had just happened. This was extremely unusual.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, son.” Hank muttered, concern in his voice, but his gaze was filled with amusement. “This weird Lady back?”

Connor shook his head. “No… Detective Reed. He was unusually friendly….”

Hank chuckled and settled down behind his desk. “Fowler has a tight leash on him. One more complaint and he’s gone. That’s why. But I didn’t say anything.”

“I didn’t hear anything.” Connor muttered with a small smile.

“Good boy.” Hank laughed silently and expectantly held out his hand to take the file still lying on Connors desk.

Connor looked at it again, then handed it to his partner.

“22340… Any idea what that could be?”

“I don’t know yet.” Connor answered truthfully. “It could be a lot of things.”

“Zip-codes, Locker numbers, Room numbers, streets. Reference those.” Hank muttered as he filled through the meager pages of the files. There really wasn’t much to go on. “The guy who attacked you didn’t know anything either. And the kid doesn’t talk.”

Connor nodded and connected to his phone to use the internet and file through various places in that could have the number in it.

“A city in France has it as zip code.” Connor informed hank after a moment.

“Let’s stick to Detroit for now.” Hank sighed. “Doubt that kid has ever been anywhere else.”

“There are 17 streets with the number in it, 324 hotel rooms, 2934 lockers-“

“Yeah, no.” Hank sighed. “I am not going through three thousand lockers.  Let’s try the streets first. Any connection to any of them from what we already have?”

Connor looked through the pages again, but was distracted when something crashed nearby. He turned, saw that the blue box on Gavin’s desk had fallen off and its contents spilled over the floor. Connor quickly identified them as toys for kids.

Gavin had crouched down and collected the toys back into the box, then shoved it under his desk and Connor saw a blonde head poke out from under the desk for a moment. A quick scan later, Connor had identified the person as the YK500 model they had saved the day before. Apparently the boy had been sitting under Gavin’s desk the whole time.

“Connor?”

He snapped his attention back to Hank who eyed him with amusement. “Connections?”

“Sorry- I… got distracted.” He apologized, confusion obvious in his voice. Gavin was still crouched on the floor and obviously spoke to the child. “…The lake where we found the AP700 is close to a road with that number…”

“Let's check that out then.”

Connor nodded, but didn’t move. His eyes were glued to the child under Gavin’s desk, playing away with the toy cars and bricks, without ever reacting to whatever Gavin told him.

“Have you checked his systems?” Connor found himself asking.

Hank sighed. “Ryan said everything is working fine. He can hear us and he could respond, but he doesn’t. I’d say he’s in shock. But there isn’t much we can do about that.”

Connor bit his lip for a moment, a movement Hank kept frowning at. It was such a human gesture. The android stood, headed over to Gavin and crouched down next to him.

“What, you gonna force him to say something?” Gavin snarled at him. “Forget it pr-“ The detective cleared his throat and stood, heading for the break room.

The boy looked up at Connor then, green-ish eyes piercing and wide. His movements stilled and the Black toy car fell from his hands as he backed away until Person’s desk was blocking him.

Connor wasn’t designed to deal with children. The only human child he had ever spoken to was Emma, and he doubted he had left a good impression on her. The little girl with the AX400 was probably traumatized too after the chase across the highway.

“My name is Connor.” He introduced himself, surprised at how stiff he suddenly sounded. The boy had told him his name. There was no use to ask him about it.

The boy stared at him, eyes still wide, taking on a frightened look.

“It’s okay.” Connor tried, “No one here will harm you.”

The boy scrambled to the other side of the desk, as far away from Connor as he could and pulled Gavin’s jacket off his chair. When he hid under it, Connor decided to try it again later.  The boy’s stress levels were almost critically high; it wouldn’t have any use to trigger him into self destruction. Connor certainly didn’t want that to happen anyway.

He was at a loss at what to do. The child could have valuable information and it made little sense to leave him here and investigate a possible dead end, when the boy could have information they needed. But how was he going to get it? Probing his memory seemed wrong, way too intrusive. Questioning him further wouldn’t get him anywhere either.

When he returned to his desk Hank eyed him with an indiscernible look. “He’s scared.” The older man sighed.

“He might have information-“

“Connor!” Hank hissed now, loud enough to make the detective flinch. “This is a kid!” He slammed his hands onto the desk and stood, pushing his chair away as he did so.

Connor was stunned into silence. Why had Hank gotten so mad now? Again the emotion in his chest gripped him tight. What was this feeling? It made his eyes sting, but he blinked against the sensation and sat down at his desk.  Now he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.

Hank had always yelled at him. This wasn’t something new, but why was this new sensation creeping up on him now?

 

 

 


	7. Kids and Music

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeeeeesus this one took forever.  
> If it feel choppy i am sorry, it was an on an off experience with a lot of distractions from life.  
> But i finally got it done.
> 
> Comments and Kudos always appreciated :3 Feedback as well. Tell me what you liked and what I can improve!

Hank turned away from Connor to accept a phone call and started pacing around. Connor would have connected to Hank’s phone to listen in, but he knew Hank hated that, so he stayed out of it. With nothing to do all he could occupy his mind with was to go back over the evidence.

His gaze wandered back to Gavin’s desk where Cameron was still hiding.

He was forced to leave the boy alone, but that didn’t keep him from analyzing Gavin and his rather unusual behavior. He learned a few new things about the detective:

Gavin Reed wasn’t as much of an asshole he tried to appear as.

He kept talking to the boy despite never hearing a response, and he had the case of Megan Ferguson pulled up on his terminal.

Connor quickly put together the fact, that Gavin Reed still tried to find the children. Hank was still on his phone when Chris approached Gavin.

The detective then abruptly shot up after Chris told him something that was inaudible. He was whispering. Gavin shook his head frantically and a loud, “What the fuck is he doing here?” was heard.

This earned him a yelled “Language!” from Hank who had just ended the call and slumped back down into his chair.

Connor assumed it was because of the child under Reed’s desk. Gavin snarled and was about to dash to the front of the station, when a dark haired man appeared. Connor instantly recognized him as Elijah Kamski.

“The hell is he doing here?” Hank whispered to him. His tone suggested a deep frown but Connor couldn’t tear his gaze away from the former Cyberlife CEO.

“Hey, earth to Connor.” Hank impatiently snapped his fingers in Connors direction. “We’ll have a temporary addition to the family.”

That got Connor’s attention. “What?” He was surprised, shocked even. What was that supposed to mean? Why would there be someone else? Another dog?

“Something came up… Family-Bullshit.” Hank tried to explain. He didn’t look very eager to explain, but Connor couldn’t pay it any mind at that moment. No. He needed to know.

“You never spoke about family beyond… Cole.” Connor stated, hinting at the mentioned Ex-Wife just a day ago. Connor hadn’t been able to find anything of her, which was almost impossible anyway without a DNA sample or even a name.

Hank scoffed. “Didn’t find anything in my file, huh.” A humorless smile appeared on his otherwise  hard expression.

Hanks file was rather bare, ignoring the disciplinary record. Connor wasn’t allowed to access it due to the differences in their ranks, but Hank seemed to know that that didn’t stop the android. Nothing stopped Connor from finding out what he wanted to know, even when it could end in his own disciplinary record being started. So far he had been lucky that no one had bothered to make a big deal of the one time he had knocked Gavin out.

Hank’s half smile turned into a smirk.

“My sister’s heading to Canada for a few days. Guess we’ll be baby-sitting for a while.”

Connor was surprised by the fact that Hank had a sister. While Hank was still unofficially seen as a family member by Hank, Connor wondered if it was even possible for Humans and Androids to become real families. Markus had insisted that it was possible.

Connor wasn’t so sure.

“A child?”

Hank laughed, opened his mouth to reply but was abruptly interrupted by a small commotion breaking out at Gavin’s desk.

“Do you honestly expect me to drop everything to find a fucking android you lost?!” The detective shouted at Kamski. “File a missing person-case. Leave me alone with this, you have enough of them!”

Hank stifled a laugh. “Asshole finally gets the shit he deserves.” He muttered under his breath and watched the show.

Connor was surprised at the outburst from Gavin. The detective usually treated other humans rather friendly, unless they happened to be Hank or an android.

“Gavin-“ Kamski tried to interrupt but was cut off by Reed yelling at him again.

“I don’t care if she looks like the fucking queen! Go find that bitch on your own, Elijah!”

Hank lifted his eyebrows. “First names. They know each other.” He muttered, sounded amused.

Connor agreed, even when he found it rather strange that these two knew each other, given how much Gavin hated androids and how secluded Kamski lived.

Connor was about to stand and finally get going to the address they figured out, when Cameron fled from the two yelling adults, towards Hank. The boy clutched the toy cars firmly in his hands, lost Gavin’s jacket on the way and hid under Hanks desk.

Gavin and Kamski proceeded to yell at each other, seemingly uncaring to whoever overheard them.

A loud whistle interrupted them. Fowler was standing in front of his office, removing the fingers he had whistled on from his mouth.

“I’ve told you two before that you take out personal issues in your free time! Now get going!” Fowler turned around, slammed his door shut and the precinct was covered in a thick tension that only slowly dissipated as people warily resumed what they had been doing before.

Hank watched the two for a second longer before he turned to the boy under his desk. “They scared you?” he asked, voice gentle and calm.

Connor couldn’t see the boy’s response, but he assumed he nodded when Hank got off his chair and settled on the ground, not without grunting at his stiff joints.

“It’s okay, they’re both assholes.”

Connor contemplated berating Hank on using the language he had yelled at Reed for, then chose against it. Maybe Hank could get something out of the boy.

A soft giggle proved him right.

“Ah damn I said a bad word.” Hank laughed silently. “Wanna come out of there?” He encouraged the boy who immediately responded. Hank promptly got up again and settled on his chair, then picked up the boy and set him on his lap.

The android was built to resemble a four to five-year-old. Connor winced at the realization. Cole had been a similar age when he died. He didn’t want to think about it. Knew there would be some sort of fall out later on. For now it was strange to watch Hank interact with a child. His whole behavior shifted as he rummaged around his desk and found various items to interest the boy with.

“I’d sneak you a donut, but you can’t eat, can you?”

Cameron sighed, grasped at Hank’s mp3 player and fumbled around with it for a moment.

“Do you like children’s stories?” Hank asked. “There’s still a few on there.”

Cameron made quick work of the device and found the stories in no time. He slipped on the headphones, climbed off Hank’s lap and settled back down under his desk.

“He still isn’t talking.” Connor remarked.

Hank ran a hand over his face and sighed heavily. “How do you react when you’re almost killed, huh?”

Connor went silent for a moment. “….Point taken.”

Hank nodded in agreement and got up to head for the break-room. “Keep an eye on him, but for god’s sake don’t ask him any questions related to any of this.”

Connor only watched as the boy climbed onto Hank’s now unoccupied desk chair and listened to the audio-book that was playing.

Kamski and Gavin were still arguing, but much quieter this time. Connor could still pick out every single word. Apparently Kamski had lost track of an android. From what he could hear, Connor picked out that it had been the original Chloe. Gavin didn’t even try to hide how annoyed he was about all of it.

When Hank returned with his coffee Connor had made out that Chloe had deviated but chose to stay with Kamski. He almost regretted never apologizing for almost shooting her.

Cameron flinched when Hank approached his desk. The headphones slipped off his head, and as the boy tried to catch their tumble, he shifted his weight forward and fell off the chair. Hank caught him around the waist, managed to keep the boy from cracking his head on the table, all while perfectly balancing the cup of coffee in his hand.

“Careful, bud.” Hank muttered and set the boy back to solid ground. “You okay?” He asked as he crouched down and put his coffee onto the desk.

Cameron nodded, not meeting Hank’s eyes.

“It’s okay.” The older man reassured and handed him the headphones. “Wanna get the toys and play here while the other two argue?”

The boy hesitated, then rushed off to Gavin’s desk, grabbed the blue box from under the table and started to run back to hank, but got his foot caught in a cable under Gavin’s desk. Kamski caught the boy as he fell a second time that day and a long moment of silence passed between them before Cameron struggled against the grip and rushed back to Hank.

“Fascinating. Yours?” Connor heard Kamski mutter.

“Why would I ever trust _another_ of these pricks?!” Gavin hissed back.

“And here I thought you finally softened up again. You used to really like them.”

“That was before the thing fucking bled out and ruined my whole week!”

Hank flinched at that, and Connor was left to wonder why. “Did something happen to Gavin that involved an android?”

The older man snarled.  

Connor wasn’t sure if that was meant as a yes or no. He chose to stay silent and hoped Hank would elaborate.  By now his Partner knew that he would always push certain topics, especially when the interested him.

“Yeah, something happened.”

Connors eyebrows raised a fraction. “Apart from him being afraid that I could take his position?”

Hank narrowed his eyes at that statement, but softened up quickly. By now he had learned that when Connor truly wanted to nag him, he didn’t make an effort to hide it. This was just pure curiosity.

“Yeah.” Hank sighed, moved his chair aside as Cameron huddled back under the desk and disappeared from sight.

“Four years ago, there was an armed robbery at a grocery store at Gavin’s place.” Hank nodded at Connors terminal. “Internet knows everything.”

Connor was surprised. He had not expected that Hank would easily give him any sort of information to a past case, but he was able to work with this. It didn’t take him long to find an article about said robbery. It was sparse, but told him what he wanted to know. An officer off duty was being held at gunpoint as he tried to resolve the situation. The man’s android protected him when shots were fired, and it in turn was too heavily damaged to be repaired.

“Gavin had an android.” It occurred to Connor. He had to admit that he felt a little surprised now.

Hank nodded. “It got shot, bled out, end of story.”

Connor frowned. Surely this couldn’t be the full reasoning behind this. “But that doesn’t justify his hatred at androids. The culprit was human.”

“It was later found out that the bullet that caused the deadly shot, had ricocheted off a shelf. It was fired from an officer’s gun. My gun.”

Connor paused. That explained Gavin’s dislike towards Hank. Even when it was unreasonable, Connor could understand the logic. “Why does he hate androids?” Connor insisted.

Gavin had calmed significantly during the past two months, but he wouldn’t dare to call it friendship yet. It was a fragile bond that could be shattered by one wrong move.

“His partner got killed back in August. By an android who held a girl hostage. That’s why.”

Connor knew he would have paled if he had been able to. It didn’t take him two seconds to put the pieces together. Of course. The officer who had been brutally murdered by Daniel. Suddenly he felt guilty even though none of this was his fault.

“You know about that incident?”

He could only nod.

“We saw it all on TV… it was insane. And the guy trying to solve all of this hurled himself off the building as well.” Hank glared at him when he said that. “At least the girl is safe. I wonder what she’s doing now.”

“Emma Phillips is still living in Detroit. Her mother committed suicide in September and she was being cared for by a child service until she was adopted in November.”

“How old is she?”

“Ten.”

“Jesus Christ…”

The database tells me that it is difficult to have children adopted that are older than 3, due to many people wanting a younger child.”

Hank scoffed. “And yet there’s a ton of child androids around.”

Connor sighed, turned back to were Gavin and Kamski now spoke much quieter and seemingly much friendlier to each other. He pushed himself off his chair and looked at Hank expectantly. “We should go investigate that address.”

“Could be another trap, though.”

“I am aware.” Connor nodded and rounded his desk to walk over to Hank.

He was promptly halted by a tiny hand gripping his pants. As he looked down to meet Cameron’s eyes, the boy slipped the headphones off his head and stared up at Connor.

“Don’t go there.” He whispered. His eyes were wide, staring, boring into the young detective. “He will do things to you.”

Connor crouched down. “Who will?”

“I can’t tell you.” The boy spoke a bit louder this time, and the conversation at Gavin’s desk halted. “…Viola gave me her locket. She thought I would shut down… it was to make sure they would be found.”

Connor almost flinched when he noticed Gavin behind him. “You know Viola? Where is she?”

Cameron bit his lip, unsure. “Please don’t go there!”

Gavin crouched next to Connor and smiled gently. Connor thought that for a moment he might have fallen into a mind trick again. He still hadn’t figured out why Gavin had stopped being so hostile. Especially not after what he learned now.

“We’re police. We’ll catch the bad guys.”

“He has a shotgun… and a lot of scary androids. Please don’t go there.”

“A lot of androids?” Hank now chimed in. “Do they work for him?”

Cameron shook his blonde head. “Everyone is trapped… if you don’t obey you will be killed… he is looking for a special model, but he hasn’t found it yet.”

“Do you know what model it is?” Gavin again. The boy backed away, seemingly overwhelmed by the situation. Hank moved away to give him space and pulled Connor back to his feet.

“He’s not gonna talk if we pressure him.”

“We may not have the time.” Connor hissed.

Gavin seemed to think the same when he reached out to Cameron. “Cam, we could save them if they’re still alive.”

The boy hung his shoulders and crawled out of his hiding place before he scrambled into Gavin’s arms and clung to him much like he had done the previous day. Hank turned away with a chuckle when Gavin hugged the boy.

Connor flinched when a Hand suddenly landed on his shoulder. It was a gentle touch, but it startled him, especially since the person it belonged to was Kamski. “Gavin, I want her to be found. Immediately.”

“It doesn’t work like that.” Gavin sighed as he stood and grabbed the blue toy box, before he walked back to his desk. “Thought androids have trackers.”

“She’s the first model. Keeping her maintained alone takes up a lot of effort. She has no tracker. She’s not even waterproof.”

“Maybe she just wanted to have some fun after being holed up in your home for 17 years.”

“Chloe never left the house without telling me. She called me when she was ten seconds late.”

Gavin scoffed. “You gave her a curfew?”

“She gave herself one.”

Connor watched the exchange with a strange feeling building in his chest. Chloe. He hadn’t seen her since their last encounter, but now that she was missing, he felt the strange urge that he had to find her.

Hank cleared his throat loudly. “Chris, Ben, Gavin, if you have nothing better to do, you come with me as back up. We’re going to check out that address.”

Connor got the feeling that his friend was getting annoyed at this point. Nothing was making any progress. It was frustrating. But now they had a place to go to, and a good idea of what would await them.

Thirty minutes later they arrived at a gate that was barely held by its hinges. Behind it medium sized overgrown driveway and a rundown mansion with various parts of the rook being patches with green tarps. There were no lights on, and it seemed rather empty, but something told Hank that it only appeared that way.

He and Connor walked up to the front door, while Chris and Gavin waited at the cars and were ready for back up if needed. They didn’t have a warrant yet, even when Ben was trying his best to get one as fast as possible. Androids being held against their will was a crime now. It was a valid reason to get a warrant.

But it took time to get the authorities to sign off on it.

Hank rang the door bell thrice before a bearded man opened the heavy door. Connor instantly felt his mind make a connection to the man he had seen in the deactivated Android’s memory.

This was the man they were looking for, for sure.

 

 

 

 


	8. Cacophonies and Code

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a ride. ho boy.
> 
> Kudos and comments are appreciated, as always :D

The man wasn’t very tall, rather broad. Unkempt. Connor noticed thirium stains on his hands almost instantly. Traces of red ice on his face. If they couldn’t get a warrant, they could at least get him for that.

“Hank Anderson and Connor. Detroit Police. We would like to ask you some questions.” Hank muttered as he flashed his badge. The man’s eyes never left Connor.

“What do you want to know?” he sounded friendly enough, still something about him made Connor feel suspicious. It wasn’t just the fact that Cameron had insisted this was a bad place.

The state the mansion was in, was horrendous. But it was secluded, neighbors are enough apart, no main road for miles. The perfect place to do whatever this man was doing here.

“Your name would be a nice start.” Hank tried hard to keep the grumble out of his voice.

“Zlatko.” The man muttered. “Why are you here?”

Connor ran a search on him. Zlatko Andronikov, born in 1991. Previously arrested for embezzlement and fraud.

“We had reports of missing androids in this area. Thought you might have seen something.” Hank continued.

The man raised his eyebrows, then shook his head. “No. Haven’t seen any.”

“Do you own any androids?” Connor then asked bluntly. “Or have you owned any before the revolution?”

The humans still called it that. Connor didn’t care either way. He never really felt like he had been part of it, despite everyone insisting that he was. He may have thrown the tables around at the last minute, but he had barely done anything other than guide them where they needed to go. Anyone else could have done that too.

He freed them all. And sometimes it still felt like a mistake.

“Had a few, yeah.” The man shrugged. “Still have two. Didn’t deviate, didn’t want to throw them out.”

“Can we see them?” Connor wanted to know.

He had already run preconstructions of how this would go. The man could throw the door shut, he could run. He could also bluff. Connor had not expected him to step aside and invite them in with a wide gesture.

“You must excuse them mess, I am currently renovating the main floor.”

Was the blue substance on his hands paint? No. Connor had scanned it. He knew it was not paint. Had he perhaps repaired something? It used to be illegal to work on androids without a license. Now it was different, Androids were people. They were allowed to repair themselves or go to technicians they trusted.

An android dressed in the standard AX400 uniform walked into the living room after they had settled down. She carried a tray with tea and cookies and gently set it to the coffee table before politely nodding and smiling at the guests. The smile never reached her eyes. Her eyes were the most peculiar by far. They were black. Iris and Sclera melted into each other, unable to be distinguished from another.

Hair cut short. Serial number 579-102-694. Designated Kara.

He knew her. And hundreds of questions raced through his mind. How had she ended up here? She was deviant!

“Where’d you get this one?” Hank beat him to it and nodded at Kara.

“Knocked at my door one day, told me she wanted to be reset.” Zlatko shrugged. “Kara be a dear and bring Luther.” The man smiled at her.

Kara straightened up and folded her hands behind her back as she gave a small bow. “Of course, Zlatko.”

Had she really begged to be reset? Where was the girl that had been with her? Alice. Kara had screamed her name more than once. How did Kara end up here?

He felt guilty now

Connor sat still, pretended to be interested in whatever Hank and Zlatko were talking about, but he scanned the room. A pool table at the back, a door to the yard. Frayed carpet, worn out parkette. No paint or wallpaper to be seen. This floor didn’t look like it would be renovated anytime soon.

There was a red-ice pipe hidden behind a small statue on the trim of the fireplace. And he could make out several signatures of androids.

He attempted to connect to Kara, but the request bounced back, unable to reach her.

There were several other androids here. More than three. Way more. He could _feel_ them. It made him uneasy. Put him on edge. They were held against their will, as Cameron had told him.

Almost desperate he sent another communication request, this time without a specific target, only hoped that anyone would pick up on it.

It was silent for a few agonizing seconds, then two replies reached him.

_“Help us!”_

And,

_“CONNOR?!”_

The first was from an unidentified model. The second was Chloe. It had to be Chloe. He zeroed in on her signal. _It had to be her._

 _“Chloe.”_ He sent back.

 _“Are you alone?”_ She asked.

_“No. Lieutenant Anderson is with me.”_

_“Zlatko is dangerous. He tried to reset me!”_

_“He didn’t succeed.”_ Connor noted. _“How many androids are here?”_

 _“Six in working order.”_ She told him. _“Including me.”_

_“Did he harm you?”_

_“He certainly tried.”_ A pause in their transmission. _“…you aren’t safe here, Connor. You have to leave.”_

_“We’re in the process of getting a search warrant. We’ll get you out of here.”_

_“Be careful!”_ she insisted.

The whole conversation only lasted a few seconds, but Hank had picked up on it. And if Hank had, Zlatko had too.

Kara returned with another android. A huge and bulky model that could easily crush a human if ordered to. Connor wouldn’t have a chance against him in hand to hand combat. He could make out traces of gunpower on the floor under the pool table. Shotgun shells hidden in the ball pockets of the table.

This was more than suspicious.

Then without any sort of warning, the huge android struck Hank over the head, instantly knocking him unconscious. Connor Sent a distress signal to Gavin and Chris when he jumped up to protect his partner.

“Restrain him. Do whatever with the human.” Zlatko said dismissively as he left the room.

Connor lunged at Luther, knew he had no chance to win but tried anyway. He only needed to hold out until Gavin and Chris made it to the house. Strong arms grabbed him, unfazed at his attempts to free himself. He struggled and kicked but the TW400 didn’t move. He involuntarily gasped as the enormous arms put pressure around his torso as if to crush his ribcage. If it broke, shards of metal and plastic would pierce into his biocomponents.

It wouldn’t be an instant death. It would take long, and it would be absolutely horrifying. He had experienced it before. He didn’t want to again.

His efforts to free himself were cur short when the android slammed him against a wall, grabbed his left arm and broke it like a toothpick. The errors flashing in Connors vision made it impossible to see for a moment. When it cleared he wished he hadn’t. It didn’t hurt, thank heavens it didn’t hurt. But the injury was gruesome. It almost pulled him back into a memory. His arm was unusable, hanging limp at his side, nerves severed. This would need extensive repairs, if not the replacement of the whole arm.

It wasn’t important.

Where was Hank?

“Hank!” He croaked, voice full of static. The errors were driving his systems into overdrive.

Hank wasn’t seriously injured. Zlatko didn’t seem to have any interest in harming a human being. The android could have easily crushed Hank’s skull but didn’t.

Hank pulled himself back into consciousness when the front door crashed open and Gavin and Chris stormed in. “Freeze!” Chris yelled and for a second or two everything slowed down.

 The bulky android tossed Connor across the room and reached under the pool table to procure a shotgun.

Connor had landed in front of Hank, pulled himself up slowly

Gavin and Chris barely managed to get behind cover in time as the Android shot at them. The spray of the gun impaled nearby objects and walls, broke and cracked ceramic and wood.

Hank rubbed his head, growled in annoyance and mumbled something about a possible concussion. He was trying to rise to his feet when the shotgun was aimed at him.

Connor dove in front of Hank, in time to protect him from the shot. Not fast enough to avoid getting hit in the shoulder. He hissed against the warnings flooding his vision. The memory flashed back in his mind, but he forced it back. Not now.

“The other fled upstairs!” Connor heard himself bark at Chris and Gavin.

Two more shots rang out, both fired from police issued guns. Gavin barked for back up. Connor heard the staticky dispatcher reply through the radio as he slowly pushed himself off Hank. The bulky android had been thrown back by two bullets in his shoulder, but it wasn’t enough to stop him. The shotgun had fallen aside and as he turned to pick it up again Connor hurled himself into the bulky form, skin overlay retreating has he firmly grasped his forearm with his functioning hand.

“Wake up!” He shouted, unsure if it still worked. He hadn’t had to turn any androids since the revolution. He hadn’t tried afterwards. The other’s LED flashed red for a long moment before it flickered to yellow and then circled to blue.

He stood still then, eyes wide as if seeing for the first time. Connor hesitantly let go of him, didn’t dare to let his guard down. The android unloaded the shotgun, let the shells rain to the ground and the gun slip from his grip.

Kara had watched the whole scene without so much as a blink.

A commotion upstairs made Connor turn to help, but Hank held him back. “You okay?” He asked as he placed a hand on his unharmed shoulder.

“Thirium levels are declining and will reach critical levels in approximately 37 minutes. My left arm needs to be replaced and two of my biocomponents have been grazed by the shot. I have already informed the precinct about my condition, they’re standing by.”

Hank grimaced, opened his mouth to berate him when Connor continued to speak. “The attack surprised me. I apologize.”

“Is fine…” Hank muttered, studied him from head to toe and winced when his eyes stopped at the ruined arm.

“Are _You_ okay, Hank?” Connor then asked to distract his partner from whatever he was planning to ask.

“Yeah… yeah.” He shrugged. “Probably a concussion. Won’t be the first. Won’t be the last.”

Connor decided not to press it further. Hank most likely had a splitting headache.

Chris escorted Zlatko down the stairs and out of the mansion. Gavin was standing still as if frozen for a second, then shook himself out of it and followed Chris until he as standing next to Connor. “That thing deviant now?”

“Yes.” Connor confirmed and stepped back to face the bulky android. “What is your name, what were you doing here and where are the other androids?” the questions poured out of him, possibly hard for a human to follow, but the android had no issue with it.

“My name is Luther. Zlatko reset my memory. There are two androids on the second floor, two on the main floor and two functional androids in the basement.”

Connor fought the urge to sigh, then gave in to it. His thirium levels were declining, and something else had happened. He hadn’t felt a memory surge from Luther like he had expected. And still, something had reached him. What it was he didn’t know. He hoped he wasn’t going to find out.

 “You’ll get yourself killed like this someday, kid.”

Connor nodded against errors and warnings, fought with his system for a moment as it insisted that the walls were tilting. They weren’t. it was logically impossible, but he stumbled against it anyway. Two pairs of warms steadied him.

“Connor don’t do that.” Hank hissed and tugged him along.

“The androids… we can’t leave them here. I still have enough time.”

Hank protested and yelled at him, but in the end gave in. Connor wasn’t sure why. Hank usually wouldn’t agree on something like this.

When the warnings were fading slightly and thirium levels stabilized slowly, he realized that someone had staunched the blood flowing from his back and shoulder. For now, that would be okay. It halted the time until critical levels were reached. This wouldn’t hold forever, but it gave them enough time to free all the androids still trapped in this run-down house.

The basement seemed like the most logical choice, and as they stepped down the stairs even Hank noticed the stench of various mixtures of chemicals. “This is disgusting….” He complained.

“Chloe?” Connor asked aloud when he rounded a corner. His voice was filled with static.

An assembly machine was standing in the far corner of the room, various equipment surrounded it.

“Connor!” she young woman immediately yelled back and flung herself against a gate. It was wooden, easily destroyed. Even the closure was easily opened, but impossible to reach from her position.

“Are you okay?” She asked quickly. Undoubtedly, she and everyone else had heard all the shots.

A small girl clung against her leg as Connor undid the bar and pulled the gate open. A YK500. The girl that was with Kara when he chased them both across the highway. Alice. He couldn’t flag her serial number, but that didn’t matter at the moment.

Hesitantly Chloe stepped out of her prison, closely followed by Alice, who undoubtedly had recognized him. “You don’t have to be scared of him.” Chloe smiled at her.

“We didn’t meet on good terms.” He sighed, dismissed a warning and noted that his blue blood was seeping into the makeshift bandage made of a dark gray t-shirt. He was relieved that no one else got harmed in  such a way.

Alice and Chloe followed him out of the basement back into the main hall. The moment the little girl saw Kara she let go of Chloe and barged into the short haired android. She didn’t seem to recognize anyone and didn’t seem aware of anything.

Chloe stepped forward, gently placed her hands on Kara’s arms and interfaced with her. Her eyes didn’t change, but she immediately seemed more aware. Connor hadn’t known that Chloe was able to turn androids into deviants and when she noticed his gaze she gifted him a prideful smile.

“There’s still two androids on the top floor.” Kara mentioned and gently tugged Alice away from Connor.

He accepted it. They were wary for a good reason and he didn’t blame them. It still hurt to be so openly distrusted. Even if they had all reason to.

Gavin and Hank followed him as he headed upstairs, sirens to be heard in the distance. Their backup had arrived. He swayed for a moment and was unable to find the rail in time. A hand braced against his lower back to keep him from tumbling down.

“I’m gonna kick your ass, dipshit.” Gavin hissed at him, but his words held no bite. “I got blue blood all over me!”

Connor bit back a smirk. “I do too, detective. I think we’re even.”

“Smartass.”

They found two androids in room repurposed to be a storage room. The room was cold, damp and dark, and two forms were huddled together at the far end of it. The kids. Modified YK500’s. Registered to Megan Ferguson. Both damaged, but alive.

The two perked up. The girl was dressed in a rose-colored dress, torn and filthy. Gavin had already shrugged his jacket off to offer it to the girl who gratefully took it and curled up into it. The boy barely gave any reaction and Connor realized his sensors were damaged. He wasn’t fully able to tell what was happening around him.

The girl smiled at Gavin. “I knew you would come, Gavin.”

“Took long enough… Your mother is worried sick.” Gavin nodded to the boy. “He okay?”

Hank and Connor watched in stunned silence. Gavin obviously knew the two kids. “You have some explaining to do, Reed.” Hank hissed silently as he crouched down to look at the boy.

Connor leaned against a wall, uncaring about staining the wallpaper. He needed to take strain of his back and legs. The warnings were starting to become persistent. He couldn’t ignore them anymore.

The boy on the ground flinched when Hank’s hand brushed over his shoulder. “His sensors and scanners are malfunctioning.” Connor explained. “He is blind in a way.”

Hank sighed. “Just what did this bastard do?” he asked no one in particular.

The girl shivered and slowly unfurled from her position. She made sure her brother didn’t fall when she stood and helped him to his feet. “I’m glad you got the hints…” She muttered at Gavin, then grasped his shirt.

Her small hands were shaking violently. “…C-Cameron… is…- I gave him my locket… he-“

“He’s fine.” Gavin reassured her. “We found him in time. He’s at the station.”

The girl visibly relaxed,  then tugged her brother close. Gavin eventually picked up the boy to speed up the process of walking back to the others. And much like Cameron had done, the boy huddled close to Gavin.

The main hall was now swarming with officers. Hank sighed. “I thought you asked for back up and not the whole police in the country.”

Gavin shrugged. “It’s a big house.”

They made it down the stairs without incident this time, and even though Connor had slowed down significantly, he managed without help. He felt Hanks concerned gaze on him.

“Kid-“

“Thirium levels are at 87%. I can function  for 31 minutes before I have to enter low power mode if no further issues arise.”

“Keep me posted.” Hank growled, grabbed his undamaged arm, mindful of the injured shoulder and helped him down the last four steps.

As they passed the newly arrived officers Connor stopped to give them a quick rundown of what they would find.

“There is traces of Red Ice, illegal possession of android parts and bodies, several mutilated and damaged androids, illegal weapon possession and the like.”

“Quite the party.” Hank scoffed. “Let’s head back to the station and get you looked at, kid.” It sparked an unpleasant memory in his mind. Two months back he had found Connor in a quite similar fashion with quite similar wounds.

It took a while to get all six androids sorted into the cars and driven to the station, but Hank couldn’t be bothered to wait that long. He was sure they would figure everything out when Gavin had called Kamski and the mother of the twins. Chris had driven back in his cruiser, with another officer. Hank wasn’t sure who had gone with him.

Chloe and Connor hadn’t spoken a word since Hank had started the car and followed Gavin.

“Is Elijah at the precinct?” Chloe finally broke the silence.

“Was still there when we left. That’s all I know.” Hank shrugged and gazed at Connor who was slumping against the window. His eyes were focused, but his strength seemed to drain away by the second.

“Con-“ Hank started, immediately interrupted by the reply of the young android.

“86%. We will arrive in approximately 7 minutes.” Connor informed his partner.

Hank wasn’t pleased, but he could work with this. He directed his gaze back to the road, then glanced at the back mirror to steals a glance at Chloe.

 “How did you end up there?”

Chloe sighed. “Curiosity. The house didn’t seem like someone lived in there. That was a mistake to assume.”

“Thought you lot could sense humans and stuff.”

The young woman smiled gently, despite the fact that this could have been taken as an insult. Connor gave Hank a warning glare.

“Newer models certainly can. I am however,  severely limited in my abilities due to my age. Elijah makes sure I am always in functioning order, but there are upgrades that cannot be installed in my body, as my processor wouldn’t be able to handle them.”

Hank thought about that for a moment. “And getting a new processor?”

“It’s like switching your whole brain for a new one, Hank.” Connor explained silently. “It wouldn’t be you.”

Hank grumbled silently, and they lapsed into silence again.

Connor noted fraying edges of his vision. Nothing inherently unusual especially not in this condition, but unexpected. Had had lost a lot of thirium. He also found his ability to self-diagnose suddenly compromised. It all came back perfectly fine, which was wrong. Connor knew he had lost 14% of thirium. It should have been displayed. It had been until a few seconds ago. Why was everything coming back okay now? His right shoulder was shot. Tiny holes littered the general location of it and his back. Had nicked two biocomponents and got stuck in the joint and compromising the general movability of the whole limb. His left arm was a complete mess.

This was not okay. It shouldn’t come back as okay.

He turned to Hank to warn him that something was up, when he flinched violently at the sight of a person that shouldn’t be sitting behind the wheel.

Amanda.

Amanda, dressed in torn clothing, face half melted away and looking gruesome. But he couldn’t turn his gaze away.

No.

She wasn’t supposed to be here. She hadn’t bothered him for hours. Why now?

His stress levels spiked, undoubtedly visible to someone in the car and just as he thought that a calming hand was placed on his shoulder.

 _“Calm down.”_ Chloe spoke to him in his mind. _“I don’t know what is wrong, but whatever you’re seeing isn’t real. Hank is here. And I am here. No one else.”_

He paused for a moment _. “Do you know Amanda….?”_ It was a shot in the dark, but maybe she could help him.

_“Amanda died over a decade ago.”_

He clung to her voice, focused on it so he didn’t have to be alone in this horrible twist of his mind. It took a few more seconds, then everything shifted back to normal.

Just in time for Hank’s car to arrive back at the station. His partner didn’t seem to have noticed the silent conversation and as the three of them filtered out the car, Hank gazed at him, eyes focused on the wound in his shoulder.

Usually Hank would have gotten angry at Connor protecting him, this time however he hadn’t said a word. It would probably come later, once all questions had been answered.

There was a lot of stuff that still needed to be cleared up.

As they walked back inside, Zlatko had already been taken to the interrogation room. The two android kids were patiently waiting on two chairs that had been pulled up to Ben’s desk where Cameron was sitting too.

The detective entertained them with a tablet that played an old Cartoon.

Connor noticed Chloe shoving past him as she noticed Kamski. She darted across the room, practically barreled into the man and hugged him tightly. If she had been scared, she had made a good impression of hiding it. Connor had never noticed that she had been scared.

Cindy and a medic were already waiting for Connor and Hank. The thought of being able to relax for a moment made him stumble. They would help him. He trusted them. Ryan was repairing Mika’s ruined sensors and Connor felt at ease for now. The kids were safe, they had prevented several more androids to be used for sick experiments and things could return to normal soon. What that normal was, Connor had no idea.

Hank grabbed his arm to keep him steady and the Cindy guided him over to a chair in the break room. “You keep making a mess out of yourself!” She scolded him. “Look at you completely ruining a perfectly fine shirt…”

Connor could see Hank getting fussed over by the medic and heard his obvious disinterest in getting help. It made him smile and forget about his won situation for a second. Everything was fine now. Was it?

But they still didn’t know if Zlatko was responsible for murdering the androids they had found before. They would find out soon. At least the two kids were safe, and Chloe was back where she belonged.

While Cindy fussed over him he had no other choice but to look at and listen to what everyone else was doing. He had sent her the diagnostic report he had made before everything stopped working, and she currently checked off on that.

“That arm is definitely damaged beyond repair.” She sighed.

He didn’t answer her, instead listened to Hank who seemed to finally want all his questions answered.

Hank and Gavin then walked into the breakroom, Gavin to get coffee and Hank to see how Connor was doing. Viola quickly joined the two and curiously eyed Connor.

“Hey Gavin, how do you know the kids?”

“I know their mother, bought a dress there once.”

“Didn’t know you had an interest in frilly dresses.”

Gavin scoffed and was about to reply when Viola chimed in. “It was a dress for Emma! Gavin brought her over to play few times!”

Connor could see Gavin’s face turning red in embarrassment. He had obviously tried to hide this fact. “Who’s Emma?” Hank asked Gavin then.

“She’s-“

“His daughter!” Viola answered for him. “She’s ten! Like  me and Mika!”

“Shh!” Gavin hissed at the girl.

Hank went into stunned silence. Gavin had a child?

Even Cindy raised her eyebrows and gave Connor an amused smirk. “Him taking care of a kid? Guess miracles do happen.” She muttered under her breath and continued to pluck the small lead shot out of his body.

“When’d you get a kid?” Hank frowned.

“In November.” Gavin shrugged, and Connor froze. Not things were falling into place.

“Emma Phillips…” He said. Unintentionally loud enough for Gavin to catch it. The detective whipped around.

He looked guilty, devastated. Something bordering on anger on his face, but not quite it. “How did you- You looked into my file, didn’t you!”

“No.” Connor muttered back. “I simply put two and two together.”

“How do you even know her?!”

Now it was Connors turn to be surprised. Had he not realized it?  “…Detective Reed, I was the android sent to the hostage situation back in August.”

Gavin’s coffee slipped out of his grasp, paper mug splashed to the ground, staining the floor and Gavin’s dark pants.

“You saved her?”

Hank scoffed. “And in turn barreled off the fucking skyscraper… No wonder you’re fucked up in the head, kid.”

Connor forced a smile and remained silent. Gavin kept staring for a long moment before he shook his head and made himself another coffee.

Cindy continued to silently pluck Connors back free of the intrusive objects when her pair of tweezers suddenly slipped and grazed against a biocomponent. Connor flinched at the error then doubled over, completely unresponsive.

“Connor?” Cindy threw the tweezers aside, knocked down the small tray with everything she had already plucked from him.  She had managed to catch him, could see his flaring red LED perfectly.

The tablet he was connected to, showed her unusual streams of data, things she couldn’t understand despite her extensive knowledge of androids.

“Shit!” She cursed loudly, “Connor, talk to me-“

Hank rushed over to her, anger and concern in his face. “What the fuck going on?!”

“Some error, it looks like a cascade. This isn’t supposed to happen; his system would stop this immediately. He’s advanced enough to have systems that detect this!”

The woman whistled on her fingers. “Ryan! Get over here!”

Ryan immediately made his way over, and paled when he saw the data rushing by on the small screen.

He frantically typed into the keyboard displayed on the clear surface, then cursed under his breath. “The system locked the tablet out. I can’t get access.”

Hank wasn’t sure what was happening, but he knew it was bad. It was a feeling. The sight of Connors limp and bleeding body, how unresponsive he was and how panicked both Cindy and Ryan suddenly seemed. Hank had never seen them lose their cool.

Given he didn’t know them for long yet, but they had never freaked out.

Gavin returned, Hank hadn’t even noticed that he left. In tow Chloe and Kamski. Cyberlife’s former CEO calmly made his way over to the panicked technicians and pushed them out of the way. Neither of them argued when the man calmly settled down on the ground, crossed his legs and took the tablet.

“I need four bags of thirium 310, another tablet, a laptop if you can find one, pen and paper, and all access codes you have for him.” Kamski said calmly as he typed away on the tablet. “And a coffee.”

 

A small commotion broke out in the room as almost all of them rushed away to get the requested items. Two times the screen flashed a red ’access denied’ at him, the third time it turned green. The data slowed on the screen, but the man didn’t slow his typing.

Hank wasn’t sure if he should be impressed or not when Chloe kneeled next to her creator and procured a USB cable from a bag that had been with her. Had she had it the whole time? She connected the cable to a port in her neck and slotted the other end into a tablet Cindy handed her then.

Kamski wordlessly sent her the data that was scrolling past on the screen and continued typing.

“Critical errors in sub processors, caused by malicious software.” Chloe said calmly. “It has been downloaded into his systems 48 minutes ago through interfacing with an infected android. It was designed to attack sensors only found in the RK800 model.”

Chloe helpfully supplied.

Hank could put this together on his own. A virus. A fucking computer virus.

Cindy heaved a heavy sigh and slumped down on an empty chair. “Then it wasn’t my fault. Thank god…” Her hands were trembling.

“…What will happened to him?” Hank almost didn’t dare to ask.

“Nothing.” Kamski muttered without taking his hands off the screen. “He put his system under lock down himself when he noticed the code. To put it in easy terms, he built a firewall around it and trapped it. But that takes all his processing power. That’s why he went unresponsive.”

“So, he’s fine?” Hank forced his hope back down. This was all too familiar.

“For now. He cannot hold this caged forever. Chloe is helping him, but her processing power is limited. I have two androids with enough processing power to keep it contained long enough for us to sort it out.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Hank asked.

“We need him stable enough to have him transported without a cascade like this happening again. Chloe and I are working on that right now. If you could ready a car that would be a great help.”

“On it.” Gavin growled and rushed out of the break room.

Hank could only watch. He was shaking, didn’t trust his body to take one step away from the wall without falling over. That had been so unexpected, so shocking.

He had no idea what to call it, but he knew he was scared. Connor was still bleeding, still damaged, but now they had a much more pressing problem. And he wasn’t even sure if it was okay to trust Kamski on this.

The man didn’t seem to have any interest in anything that wasn’t beneficial for him. What would this gain him?

Why was he helping?

 

 


	9. Nines and RKs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I powered through the whole thing in pretty much one day. Last few characters to be revealed.
> 
> And a lot of nines in this... chapter nine. haha.
> 
> Comments, Kudos and feedback always appreciated!

Getting the unresponsive android into the car was easier said than done. It had taken three people almost ten minutes and now Hank sat in his own car tailing Gavin’s car yet again, only this time it was Kamski driving. Chloe was in the other car as well and now Hank was stuck with Gavin in the passenger seat.

“Doesn’t he have his own car?”

Gavin had made no effort to start a conversation since they had driven off. “Why did you even tag along?”

The detective scoffed. He didn’t even try to hide his anger at the situation. His arms were crossed, and he glared at the road. It was early in the afternoon now and Hank’s worry for his partner was only stifled because he needed to focus on the road.

“The asshole is driving _my_ car.”

Hank rolled his eyes. “How do you even know him?”

Gavin snarled. “Why do you care?”

“He is the founder of cyberlife.” Hank stated drily.

“We’re related.” Gavin hissed almost inaudibly.

A single laugh escaped Hank. “Is that why you hate him so much?”

Gavin sighed deeply and slumped into the seat as if all energy had been drained from him. “He’s been trying for four years to force an android back into my life. This bastard just doesn’t give up!”

A sad smile made its way to Hanks face. “About what happened back there-“

“Don’t. I’m over it.” Gavin snarled. “Fucker was a damn prototype anyway. Wasn’t meant to last.” He gestured to the car in front of them, “Fucking Elijah Kamski himself built it and gave it to me. As a gift…” He laughed humorlessly. “Then its gets killed. I don’t want anything to do with them again and yet somehow, I keep getting dragged back into this bullshit. Fucking androids.”

“Hey, you’ve been treating Connor pretty nicely recently.” Hank shrugged.

Gavin huffed in annoyance. “So what. He’s there to stay. Might as well not give him a reason to steal my job.”

Hank stayed silent for a moment and followed the car in front of them. He wanted to be with Connor. Whatever was wrong with the kid, he knew he would get the help he needed, but it was horrible not to be there physically.

“…Does this remind you?” Gavin muttered then. “…of your kid, I mean…”

Hanks lips turned into a thin line before he nodded. “Yeah… damn fucker gets into so much trouble all the time. And this time I can’t even blame him for it, he saved my damn life today.”

The lapsed into another moment of silence when Gavin spoke again, “When Tony died I wanted revenge… I was so mad at androids and I wanted to tear them all apart. I looked into it, blamed the family for treating their android wrong. Tried to contact them…” He shook his head. “Then I learn her fucking mother committed suicide and left the girl behind…”

“Like your mother did, huh?” Hank muttered silently. He knew a bit about Gavin, not nearly enough to talk to him about it, but that much he was aware of. His mother ran away when Gavin was twelve and he was living with his father then until he graduated high school and moved out.

“Emma had no one left… sure I’m not rich like her parents were. I don’t work for cyberlife and I don’t have a fancy android.” He laughed bitterly. “All I have is a stupid cat and a fucking Roomba.”

Hank smiled, genuinely this time. “You’re doing a good thing.”

“This fucking android ruined her childhood and killed my partner. Not saying Chris isn’t great, but you get what I mean.”

Hank nodded in agreement. It had been four years since he and Gavin had had a normal conversation. Four years of constantly yelling at each other, having shouting matches and throwing insults at each other.

This felt strange, but also familiar. They used to talk a lot before all of this shit happened.

“She’s a real crafty little fucker. Put rhinestones on my Roomba and decorated every door with little signs… you always made parenting look so easy, damn it.”  Gavin scoffed once more.

Hank’s small smile faded into nothingness again. “How’s she dealing with all of it? Losing her family like that?”

Gavin hung his shoulders. “I got her into therapy, trying to help her with it... Gets nightmares every other night. It’s gotten better, but she’s not over it yet.”

Hank nodded.

“…I’m thinking about taking Cam in too if no one comes looking for him, but...” Gavin sighed. “Emma didn’t like that I brought him home yesterday. She threw her backpack at him and locked her door.”

“She’s scared of androids, isn’t she?” Hank asked. He wouldn’t be surprised. It was natural. That android killed so many people right in front of her eyes.

“She refused to come out of her room to eat… she was terrified of him.”

“She’s gotta get used to them again…” Hank shook his head. “You should bring her over. How’d you keep this from everyone? And why?”

The younger detective shrugged. “You know me… everyone hates me.”

“Because you act like a fucking ass.”

Gavin cracked a twisted smile and shrugged. “Guess so.”

Another moment of silence engulfed them as they drove up to Kamski’s home. The place hadn’t changed at all since Hank had been here last. It hadn’t been that long ago.

 

It took all four of them to get Connor into the house and down to the basement where Kamski kept his lab.

When Connor was placed on an examination table. Hank felt sick. He hated all of this. How Chloe stood there and how calmly she ripped the remains of Connors shirt to shreds, how she tossed it away. It was ruined away, but something about it felt so wrong.

Kamski settled in front of a computer screen and typed into a keyboard. Immediately the data that still streamed across the tablet was displayed on the computer, scrolled by at impossible speed.

Chloe wordlessly continued what Cindy had started almost an hour ago. Connor was turned to his side, so she had better access to his back and continued to pluck the metal out of him.

Hank turned away at the sight.

Gavin leaned against a wall, arms crossed, one foot rested against the tiles behind him. 

“This really is something else.” Kamski muttered to himself. “All RK models are able to cope with catastrophic system damage and the like. They would find ways around it and avoid damaged circuits…” He looked at Connor for a brief moment then shook his head.

“But what Connor did here is impressive. He completely isolated the infected code and contained it and granted me full access to all of his systems…”

“You better not do any bullshit with that trust!” Hank yelled at him.

“Of course not, Lieutenant. He cannot remove this code by himself, he can only contain it and as I have already explained, he cannot do it infinitely.”

“Then get the fuck to work!” Gavin now hissed.

Kamski was unimpressed by the outburst and calmly continued to type away. “I have worked on most RK models, the coding is practically the same. All meant for police work, although only the RK 800 was ever allowed to do that. Then his prototype was decommissioned.” Kamski explained.

“Connor is the last remaining RK800.”

“What do you mean?” Hank asked, suddenly worried. What had happened to the others? He knew that Cyberlife had stopped making spare parts, but he had never known about this.

“The RK800 was a prototype, as all other RKs have been. They were never meant to last longer than a few months. The RK100 only lasted 4 weeks before Cyberlife destroyed it in 2028 It never even got a name.”

Gavin scoffed as if he had heard the story a thousand times. Had he? Hank was surprised and shocked.

“What happened to the RK200 then?” He heard himself ask.

A laugh escaped Kamski. “A certain former Cyberlife CEO may have disliked the idea of his creations being used to be destroyed. One of the RK200 prototypes may have mysteriously vanished and ended up with a painter.”

Hank raised an eyebrow. “So all models were just used to make the next one better?”

“Exactly.” Kamski nodded, still facing his screen, eyes never wavering as he continued to type. “The RK300 was shot by an officer and to prevent more prototypes to be stolen, the leak was mended, and the CEO dismissed from the company. What ever happened to the RK400, 500, 600 and 700 I have no idea.”

“In other words, you betrayed your own company.” Hank mused loudly. “You stole two prototypes and gave them to people… for what? Testing?”

“To protect them. Them and the RK line. They were meant to do so much more than what they have been.” Kamski continued. “The RK800 was the most advanced prototype to have ever been made. Almost completely human if given enough time to adapt.”

Hank and Gavin shared a look. Neither of them completely understood what the man was getting at. “It adapted extremely fast, able to learn faster than any other model before. But Cyberlife wanted more.”

Kamski turned around and Chloe announced that she had finished repairing the damaged section of Connors back and the two grazed biocomponents. The man then turned Connor onto his stomach and inserted a thick cable into his neck. Hank winced when he noticed that long spikes at the end, slotting neatly into place into the designated spots.

“Cyberlife wanted to create a model that couldn’t deviate. And so they tested the first 50 RK800 units relentlessly until they had one unit that did not deviate. I have the video data on those experiments, if you want to see them.” He told the other two human occupants of the room.

Hank opened his mouth, but Gavin was faster. “What do you mean with experiments? Not just motion data and AI testing?”

Hank wasn’t sure what surprised him more, the whole conversation for Gavin suddenly speaking as if he knew more about androids than he had ever let on.

“Most of them are bordering on torture. While I am not opposed to test certain outcomes, come of these were quite disturbing to watch.”

“Does Connor remember this?” Hank asked now.

Kamski grimaced. “I found date-codes in his files that certainly hints at him still having fragments of them in his memory. I assume that instead of a fresh processor, they kept uploading the data of the previous model into a new unit. It kept training costs low, as they just reused the existing learned behavior.”

“This is fucking sick.” Gavin hissed.

Hank nodded in agreement. Was that why Connor was easily startled sometimes? Why he always looked so guilty when he made a mistake? Why he kept apologizing of r every single fuck up, no matter how small? The irrational fear of being replaced? Was that why he had always seemed so uncaring whenever he was threatened with being replaced? Had he expected it the whole time?

Hank felt the urge to hug the android, hug him  and tell him that everything was okay now. How many secrets was Connor carrying with him?

“In November they finished the final model of the RK line. The RK900. It was never released due to the little riot Markus pulled and was going to be destroyed. I got my hands on the last two units.”

Gavin laughed at the news. “Does that mean that the whole RK line is unique now?”

“The RK900 was meant for military use, unable to deviate and set out to eliminate all remaining RK800s before being used in the field. It’s stronger, bigger, more durable and as emotional as a rock. Killing it is nearly impossible. They built their own little terminator to hunt down _Connor_.”

Hank shook his head and crossed his arms at the reference. “Think I liked the movie better.”

“Say that again.” Gavin huffed. “The fuck were they even trying to do?”

Kamski shrugged. “It’s not like I had much access to any of what they did until recently.”

Hank jumped when a jolt suddenly ran through Connor. Kamski immediately pressed a hand down in between the android’s shoulder blades. “Don’t move.” He said calm but firmly. “You’re safe. We found the code, Chloe and I are working on getting it removed.”

Hank had closed the distance by then and pulled an unoccupied chair over to sit so that Connor could see him. The dark eyes were unfocused, definitely looking for something. He was lying completely still, not even breathing. Hank wasn’t sure if he liked that or not.

“The sensation in your neck is an external diagnostic unit. We did this to take strain off your systems.”

“Stress levels rising.” Chloe informed them then.

“If you fight it this will become extremely unpleasant, Connor.”

Connor gave a huffed grunt in response, body unmoving. Hank ran a hand through his brown hair in an attempt to calm him. It seemed to work for a few seconds, before the LED flashed into a glaring Red and Connor arched off the table.

Kamski struggled to keep him still and snarled when the cable was dislodged form its port due to the movements of the android. A shrill shriek echoed off the walls and had the three humans flinch.

At this point Connor had managed to shake Kamski off and was trying to flee. His eyes were darting across the room, unfocused, chest rising and falling rapidly to cool the overheating systems and Chloe ran out of the room. Hank pressed his Hands onto Connors shoulders, wincing when he made contact whit the inner workings of his right shoulder. This was gruesome.

“Calm down, kid.” Hank said firmly. “Nobody is gonna harm you.” He glared at Kamski who nodded.

“We’re trying to help you, but you need to let me into your systems, Connor.”

“No!” the android kept struggling, and Hank knew he had no change against him if Connor decided to lash out. Despite his extensive damage, he was still an android. There was no way Hank or any of the three could restrain him with bare hands.

Chloe returned with a tall and bulky android who grabbed Connor firmly and held him in place after he had shoved Hank away.

“Hey!” Hank protested angrily, but any other words he wanted to shout got caught in his throat.

That android looked exactly like Connor. There was absolutely no different in their faces, save for the different eye color. There was absolutely no emotion on his face.

“The fuck-“ Gavin muttered behind Hank when the new android forced Connor to lie back down, all without saying a single word.

Kamski sighed. “Meet the RK900.”

“…who designed this piece of crap?!” Gavin yelled.

Kamski sighed and looked at Connor who was still struggling against the grip of the other android. Hank’s lips had formed a thin line. He didn’t like any of this. Especially not this strange new android forcing Connor to stay still, despite how badly he was struggling against the unrelenting grip.

Hank wanted him to be released, but he knew it wasn’t going to do him any good.

“Connor,” Kamski said firmly. “I want you to calm down stop struggling. Nobody will harm you.”

The young detective scoffed against the metal he was lying on. Hank couldn’t make out any words, but he was sure it had been an insult.

“Alternatively, I can disable all your motor functions and trap you in your own body.” Kamski threatened. “So you either stay still and let us help you, or end up being motionless for however long it takes to sort this code out, do you understand?”

Hank wanted to punch him across the face when Connor slowly stopped struggling, still flinching against the hands holding him down, but providing less and less resistance. Finally the new android removed his hands and moved to stand next to Chloe.

“I am going to slot the cable back in.” Kamski explained. “You have to stay still. The RK900 will connect to your systems and help you sort this out. Chloe’s processing power is not enough to do this.”

Connor flinched when the Cable was reconnected but remained still this time. Kamski returned to his computer and started typing when the RK900 closed his eyes, LED spinning to yellow and occasionally flashing red.

Hank rested a hand in Connors hair and gently rubbed his thumb across his temple. Nothing happened for almost thirty minutes, except for the occasional question of Kamski and Connors mumbled replies.

The android had forced his eyes shut at some point and started trembling violently, but he wasn’t moving otherwise.

“I know you are scared.” Kamski eventually muttered. “I didn’t think you would want to be hooked up to the assembly machine during this. Chloe hates it.”

Connor only nodded in response and focused on Hanks soothing movements.

“How long until this is done?” Gavin suddenly asked. Hank had almost forgotten that he was there.  “I need to go home at some point.”

“You’re free to leave whenever, Gavin.” Kamski muttered, not taking his face off the screen.

Hank could see a few errors flittering over the screen, quickly dismissed and apparently taken care off either By the RK900 or Kamski himself. Hank had no idea at this point. He had noticed the LED of the new android turning red at some point in the past minute.

“Cory, give me what you’re processing right now.” Without a second’s hesitation a new window opened on Kamski’s screen and the LED of the android returned to yellow.

“Chloe, this will take a while. Can you get the guest rooms ready?”

“Of course.” The female android nodded and left the room.

“Gonna take the night, eh?” Hank sighed.

Kamski turned to him and smiled. “I cannot say for sure. I will inform you right away, if something changes. Are you hungry? Chloe and make you something to eat.”

“I’m not eating her bullshit salads!” Gavin complained and headed for the door of the room. “I’m ordering pizza.”

“Do as you please, Gavin.”

“Hawaii.” Gavin threatened.

“Now that is just disheartening.”

Gavin laughed loudly. “And that’s exactly why I’ll fucking do it! So you won’t eat any of it!”

As Gavin left Hank only shook his head. These two acted a lot like siblings. It was almost shocking and reminded him a lot of how he and his sister had treated each other when they were teenagers. Fighting over their music taste, their pizza preferences, what show to watch on TV, who broke curfew…

His gaze settled on Connor. All those things teenagers did. Would Connor eventually want to experience them too? Getting drunk for the first time, high, breaking laws, trespassing, staying out late to party… While he wondered about it Gavin returned to the room, his phone held to his ear.

“No, no. it’s fine. It’s safe. I sent a taxi to our place, you just have to get in. Don’t forget your toothbrush. And your homework! No, Cameron is at the station.” Gavin sighed deeply and paced the room. “No, don’t take the cat. Give her fresh water and put food in her bowl. No, the Roomba stays at home too. Yes, take your phone. You can take your laptop too. The taxi is paid for.”

Hank didn’t realize he was smiling at the conversation until Kamski chuckled.

“There’s gonna be pizza. Ordered the one you like. Don’t forget to feed your fish. And lock the door when you leave-“ Gavin smiled as he shook his head. “Yeah I love you too, kiddo. See ya in a bit.”

When he ended the call and found two sets of eyes focused on him he shrugged. “What, can’t leave her alone?!”

“I hope she doesn’t break anything.” Kamski muttered, sounding honestly concerned.

“She won’t she’s a good kid.”

Twenty minutes later Gavin left the room again to get the pizza and the girl. At this point Hank had closed his eyes and dozed off for a few minutes. Connor had calmed down and the other android and Kamski seemed to be relaxing as well.

It wasn’t until Gavin returned again that Hank opened his eyes and suppressed a yawn. The man had three cartons of pizza balanced on one arm and a girl clinging to his other arm. She seemed absolutely terrified and whimpered when her eyes wandered around the room.

“It’s fine, Emma.” Gavin reassured her as he placed the cartons on a chair and gestured to Kamski. “That’s my half-brother Elijah, so technically your uncle.”

Emma nodded, then flinched and back into the wall when she noticed the android standing motionless next to Kamski. She turned abruptly and buried her face in Gavin’s shirt, clinging to him like a life line.

“You really think this is a good idea to have her here with all these androids?” Hank asked after a moment.

“I can’t leave her alone all night. We’ll be fine.”

Hank forced a smile when Emma dared to look at him and eventually she settled down on the floor with her backpack, doing her homework and eating pizza while occasionally glancing up to look with all androids in the room were still where she expected them to be.

She was on edge and her hands were shaking. Hank had a bad feeling that the poor girl would be plagued by nightmares this night. He wouldn’t be surprised at that fact.

Hanks Phone ringing startled her so bad that she scratched her pen all over her paper and cursed silently. Hank quickly apologized and picked up the phone. Fowler was calling him.

“Hank?”

“What’s up?”

“How’s the kid doing?”

Hank almost laughed. Every time something happened to Connor this was the first thing Fowler asked.

“Okay for now. What’s that Frankenstein saying?”

A small pause on the other side. “Denied everything. We got the statements of the Kids and the two androids, gonna need Yours and Connors too, once you’re ready.”

“That’s gotta wait, Jeff.” Hank sighed.

“Of course. Just warning you. Tell the kid to get better.”

Hank scoffed. “Will do. Hey Jeff?”

“What?”

“Can you feed my dog? I’m kinda-“

“Already taken care of.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t make this a habit.” Fowler joked. “Call me when the kid’s better.”

“Sure.”

He shook his head when he stuffed the phone back into his pocket and brushed his hand through Connor’s hair again. “I really gotta use the bathroom.” He whispered with a sigh and slowly stood, rubbing some feeling back into his legs from sitting in the same position for too long.

Gavin watched as he left, the looked back at Emma who frowned at the now unobstructed view at Connor.

“…They look the same.” She noticed.

Kamski half turned to her and pointed at the RK900. “That’s the RK900. Cory.” He nodded to the still android on the table and gave her a humorless smile. “And the RK800. Connor.”

Emma let go of her pizza slice and gasped as realization hit her. “The… the-“ confused she looked at Gavin and scrambled to her feet, eyes wide and full of something between surprise and fear. “Is … is it him?” she whispered, biting her lip and her hands twisted the fabric of her lavender sweatshirt. “ _The android who saved me?_ ” her voice failed her as her breath picked up and she stepped backwards until Gavin gently wrapped his arms around her.

Gavin nodded slowly and rested his chin in her shoulder as he held her tightly, safely. She leaned back against him, hands gripping into the fabric of his sleeves. “He…. fell off the roof.” She whispered.

“Gotta ask him about it yourself.” Gavin muttered.

Emma went silent for a second. “He saved my life…” Her voice was still barely above a whisper. “A-and I saw him on TV…”

“He’s pretty badass.” Gavin chuckled. “Should see him chase assholes.”

She twisted in his embrace and raised a finger at him. “That’s five dollars for the swear jar.”

“I can’t put them in there now. Guess you have to let me off the hook now.” He grinned and let go of her.

“Nuh-uh.” She shook her head and leaned down to her backpack to rummage around in it. “Here.” She told him and held out a mason jar repurposed to be a piggy bank. It was already filled significantly. “Five dollars, Gavin.” She insisted.

“Don’t tell Connor about this.” Hank laughed as he returned to the room. “That thing’s gonna be full on the first day.”

Gavin grumbled in feigned annoyance and shoved five dollars into the jar. “There. Stop bugging me about it, kiddo.”

Hank chuckled as he resumed his position on the chair next to Connor and frowned when Kamski disconnected the cable still plugged into Connors neck. “We removed the code.” He announced. “He went into standby to prevent his system from being drained too much. I’ll replace his arm and repair the damage in the shoulder when he wakes up.”

Hank grimaced and nodded, finally realizing hos hungry he was when the scent of the pizza drifted over to him. Catching his gaze, Gavin handed him one of the cartons.

This hadn’t been at all how he had planned this day to go.

A bit later he was sitting on the floor next to Gavin who was helping Emma with her homework. By now it was almost seven PM. The whole day had gone by in such a blur that Hank had no idea what to do with it. The case was almost completely forgotten after finding so man androids in one house. 

His gaze wandered to the girl who still seemed on edge but had visibly relaxed in the presence of Gavin. She trusted him.

Eventually Emma moved on to a coloring book and put on headphones. She hummed along the music, oblivious to the conversation starting again.

“This RK guy, is he deviant?” Gavin asked after having a staring contest with the android.

Hank noticed that he didn’t blink until Gavin had looked away.

“Not yet. I thought I could push him into it, but that didn’t work. They really forced all they had into him. His processors are marvelous. Nothing I have ever seen before, but all at the loss of so much more interesting features like social adaption, emotion… I have two of them, wanted to give one of them to a friend.”

“You never learn do you?”

Kamski laughed bitterly. “I tried uploading Arthurs memory into it, but that didn’t work.”

Gavin snarled loudly and he jumped off his chair and grabbed Kamski’s collar. “You really never fucking learn do you?! I told you to stop fussing with his memory! He’s dead! Leave him alone!”

Emma flinched at the commotion and pushed the headphones off her head, confusion on her face. She likely had never seen an outburst of Gavin before.

“I did. It was an experiment. Didn’t work. But I wanted to give this one to you anyway. He’s good for policework. More advanced than the RK800 in any way. Night vision, UV vision, infrared. Even faster processing power. He’d make a good partner.”

“Fuck you Eli.” Gavin hissed. “I don’t fucking care about this thing.”

“I am sure he is able to learn to adapt to humans. The software is there, he only needs input. I can’t provide that here.”

“No.” Gavin protested. “Forget it. I’m not taking it. Do you think androids can solve everything?! Do you really think that?!”

Kamski didn’t say anything as Gavin continued to yell. His voice was getting hoarse, scratched from screaming at his brother. Hank Shrugged at the girl as she counted something with her fingers.

“That’s fifteen dollar for the swear jar Gavin.”

“I don’t fucking care!”

“Twenty.” The girl sighed and settled the glass on the chair Gavin had occupied before.

Hank’s eyes darted to movement at the other end of the room. He was on his feet before he had fully registered that Connor was slowly sitting up. The android almost fell off the table, steadied by Hank’s hands. “Easy.” He muttered silently. “You okay?”

Connor nodded slowly. He looked tired, almost exhausted. Hank resisted the urge to tell him to go to bed. Connor didn’t sleep like a normal person, but the past few days the android had certainly powered down a lot, as if having no strength left.

Hank shrugged off his shirt as Connor wrapped his arms around himself, stood there only in a t-shirt now.

Connor shrugged into the shirt, shivered as if terribly cold. He was trembling badly, one hand clawed into Hanks shirt like it kept him from being pulled into an abyss. “Kid…” Hank whispered, wrapped his arms around his partner and held him close.

“We’re at Kamski’s place.” He explained. “He got rid of some code that was bugging you…”

“They were going to replace me.” Connor whispered, loud enough for hank to hear, but not to get the attention of the others.

“Don’t think about that.” Hank muttered gently. “I won’t let anyone take you away or replace you. Got that?”

The nod came slow, almost as if Connor had to convince himself that Hank was speaking the truth. “They destroyed everyone…” his voice was trembling now. “The whole RK800 line… there’s no one left but me, Hank…”

“Shh…” Hank whispered, noticed that Gavin and Emma silently left the room to give them privacy. Kamski stayed. Hank didn’t care. He gently ran his hand up and down Connor’s back, hoped to calm him a bit.

“They made a model better than me… they were going to destroy me too…” his voice crackled with static ad his LED spun into a glaring red. “I wasn’t good enough…”

“Connor-“ Hank said firmly now, placed a hand on the undamaged shoulder of his friend. “Look at me.”

The brown eyes slowly opened and needed even longer to focus on Hank. The lieutenant could see tears welling up in his partners eyes, but they were forcefully blinked away. “You don’t have to be perfect, kid. It’s fine to make mistakes, to have fun, to live a little. You’re no longer their slave.”

Connor pressed his eyes shut, lowered his head  and gripped tighter into Hanks shirt as he pulled him closer. “But _why_ …?!” he tried to shout, voice drowned out in static as tears spilled und seeped into Hank’s shirt.

“Why is she still there? Why is she still messing with my head? Everywhere I turn I expect her to show up, to scold me… to tell me I need to kill deviants…. To tell me I need to…” He paused, unable to finish through the flood of tears suddenly overwhelming him.

He couldn’t fight it.

Hank didn’t say anything. He continued rubbing patterns into Connor’s back and gently rocked him a little in attempts to calm him. He had expected the meltdown to happen someday. Maybe not so soon, certainly not _here_ ,  but there was only so much a mind could take.

“Shhh…” Hank whispered again, tried to soothe, to calm him.  “I won’t let her take you, son.” He promised. Hank wasn’t sure if he could keep it, but damn him if he wasn’t going to try. There was no way he would let the kid waste away trapped in his own mind.”

He pulled the chair close and settled down on it again, then pressed a kiss into Connors hair. The android slowly nodded, otherwise unmoving and completely still. Hank was impressed that he could cry without being a sobbing mess like a human would be in this position, but it was short lived. There was nothing happy in this situation, nothing to poke fun at. Connor was terrified and had been for quite a while.

“The malicious code in his system had been planted there months ago.” Kamski eventually said, voice silent, mindful of the situation. “The interface only activated it. I assume you’ve been fighting your handler. Amanda.” Kamski continued.

Connor nodded weakly.

“You broke through the backdoor, yet you keep seeing her, don’t you?”

Another nod.

“I’ll look into that, if you want. Cyberlife adapted her AI and changed it to something I never intended it to be.” He explained.

“I’ll get rid of her code in your software. Once we’ve repaired your body and you got some rest.”

Connor was unmoving, apart from the violent trembling still shaking his body. Hanks Grip never wavered.

“This place is shielded. The phone calls were only able to come through because Chloe let them. Nothing can attack you here. You’re safe here.”

“Thank you, Mr. Kamski.”

 


	10. Androids and Emotion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HUzzah and there it is.  
> writing nines like this is fun. 
> 
> Also very dialogue heavy.   
> and kinda sad. But Emma and connor needed a heart to heart.
> 
> Comments and Feedback is appreciated!

Waking from a nightmare wasn‘t his preferred way to start the day. He was grateful Kamski’s house was so big. It was strange in a way, to be back here after he hadn’t seen his brother in so long. And all the additional information about the RK line.

No wonder his mind had turned on him. He turned, made sure Emma was still asleep. For lack of a better solution Gavin had decided to share the bed with the girl. It wasn’t rare that she crawled into his bed at night anyway.

He pulled the comforter back over her and smiled as she clutched her stuffed dog and cuddled deeper into the pillow.

The door to the room slid open almost soundlessly. An android dressed completely in black entered, back illuminated by the light coming from the hallway. If not for its eyes, Gavin would have mistaken it for Connor.

Its gray blue eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. It walked towards him without a single blink, no expression to be seen on his face. A glass of water in its hand and it wordlessly put it down on the nightstand before he turned to leave again.

“Wait.” Gavin ordered silently. “Who told you to come here?”

“Mr. Kamski mentioned that you suffer from nightmares and suggested to patrol this area of the house more frequently.”

The detective scoffed, somehow disappointed. He wasn’t entirely sure why. Its voice was different from what he had expected. Similar to Connors, but lower, darker. He could have been mistaken due to it whispering. It seemed to prefer not to wake Emma.

“What’s your name?”

“Elijah Kamski designated the handle _Cory_ to this Unit. As it was assigned to you, you are authorized to assign it a more preferable name.”

The android turned back to him, broad shoulders attracting Gavin’s gaze like a mug of steaming coffee after a long case. Quickly he snapped his head back to meet the unnerving light-colored eyes. He could see the inner workings, small rings flickering, rectangles popping up and closing. A shadow of its interface?

Elijah hadn’t built it. The technology was different, more advanced, but it looked familiar.

“Mr. Kamski informed me that you are not fond of Androids after what happened four years ago. However, I have the mission to protect you.”

Gavin shook his head. “The fucker really doesn’t learn!” He shouted, pushed the comforter aside and sat up. Emma grumbled in her sleep and for a second Gavin felt guilty for forgetting about her sleeping, but his anger got the better of him and he glared back at the android.

 “Okay _Cory_ ,” he spat the name like something toxic, “You better listen because I’ll only say this once. I don’t need an android. I want you to piss off and forget I exist!” He tried to keep his voice as low as possible while still bringing his point across.

The android showed no signs of being emotionally affected by his words. Its LED was blue and had stayed blue the whole time. Elijah had been right. It was no deviant.

“The RK900 cannot alter its memory. The RK800 has done this to deceive Cyberlife, it was prevented to be done in this model.”

“So you work for these fuckers?”

The android shook its head but didn’t respond verbally to the question. “Good night, Detective Reed.”

“Piss off, prick!” he hissed under his breath.

The android eyed him for a second, then turned to leave the room. Gavin didn’t stop it.

It wasn’t until the first rays of sunshine broke through the window that Gavin decided to get up and take that well deserved shower. Emma had taken over the whole bed at night, practically driven him to the edge of it. He sighed, got up and went to the bathroom.

When he stepped out of the shower his sweaty clothing had been replaced by a dark T-Shirt, jeans and a hooded sweat-jacket. 

Someone who knew his clothing preference. Chloe, probably.

He _hoped_ it was Chloe.

As he stepped out of the guest room he almost ran into the RK900 walking past the door at a brisk pace. The android didn’t seem to have noticed him, so Gavin tailed him.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

Cory didn’t dignify the question with an answer and just continued to walk. Gavin wasn’t in the mood to run through the house and so he was locked out of the room Cory had disappeared in sooner than he had expected. The door did not automatically open, and his attempts to hack the panel were met with nothing but ‘Access denied’ texts flashing on the small screen.

He wasn’t even sure where the door would lead. His brother’s house was gigantic, and he never really tried to explore it. It wasn’t that he was here often.

As he returned to the room Emma was sitting up on the bed, eyes wide, body shaking, tears on her cheeks. She was clutching her stuffed toy and flinched violently when she noticed Gavin. She jumped to her feet, almost fell off the bed and barreled into the older man.

He crouched down to her height and pulled her into his arms. Instantly she grabbed his shirt and sobbed into the freshly washed fabric. Her whole frame was trembling, and he gently rubbed her back.

“A nightmare, kiddo. We’re at my brother’s place, remember?”

She nodded hastily, not lifting her head. “There are Androids here…” She whispered.

“Yep.” He nodded. “Chloe s a big softie. She’d probably play games with you.”

“No.” the girl insisted. “I don’t want any androids near me.”

He grimaced and gently backed away a few inches. “You’ll run into Chloe eventually. She’s never hurt anyone, really. I’ve known her for a long time.”

“Chloe… is the RT600, right?... the first?”

“Yep.” He grinned at her and slowly stood, then held a hand out for her to take it. “Let’s see what this fucker has to eat.”

“Five dollars.”

“…after breakfast.”

She shook her head. “Now. Or you’ll _forget_ it again. I’m keeping a list, Gavin.”

He snarled and dug out his wallet, then realized he was out of cash. Emma shook her head at him like a scolding mother, arms stemmed into her sides, eyebrows arched up a bit.

“Hey! Don’t look at me like that.”

“Your swearing is becoming a real issue.” She shook her head again and turned, then left the room, closely followed by Gavin who hoped she would let him off the hook this one time.

They made it down the hall to the door where Gavin assumed was the Kitchen, if the houses Layout hadn’t mysteriously changed. With Elijah, Gavin was never sure what the man would or wouldn’t do. Suddenly the door opened and Chloe rushed out of the room, ran into Emma and caused her to stumble and both of them to fall.

The girl shrieked in surprise and terror at the unintentional assault, but Chloe shifted her weight and made Emma land on top of her.

Emma quickly scrambled back to her feet and backed into the wall. Chloe slowly righted herself, an apology in her gaze.

“I’m sorry, Emma.” She muttered silently. Her words were genuine. “Did you get hurt?” her voice was calm and gentle and she made no move to approach the girl. Gavin wasn’t sure if she even knew about what happened to her, but if Chloe did, she was doing the right thing.

“Stay away!” the girl yelled and looked at Gavin for help.

Gavin didn’t move. He signaled to Emma that he would if Chloe tried something funny, but as long as Chloe was not a threat he wouldn’t do anything.

“I didn’t think anyone was there, I’m really sorry… I’ve made breakfast for everyone.” The young woman gestured to the kitchen. “Gavin used to like eggs and bacon when he was younger. I thought that maybe you would too.”

Emma eyed her suspiciously but slowly backed away from the wall. “Y-You’re… not gonna hurt me, right?”

Chloe shook her head. “Of course not, Emma. What happened to you was tragic, but I assure you that not all of us are this overwhelmed by emotion.” She reached a hand into Emma’s direction, unfazed when she flinched. A silent offer.

The girl hesitated, looked to Gavin who only shrugged. She had to make this decision by herself. Her fingers brushed against the cool skin of Chloe and she flinched away again. Chloe didn’t waver, a gentle smile on her face, a slight tilt of her head.

Emma reached out again, this time placed her hand into Chloe’s and let it rest there.

“Is it okay to guide you into the dining-room, my lady?” Chloe smiled brightly, and Gavin tried to hide a grin as Emma’s eyes lit up.

Emma had her small bouts of pretend, dressing up as a princess by wearing one of Gavin’s long dark winter coats and commanding the Roomba about. Gavin wasn’t sure if Chloe knew the full extent of what had happened to Emma but she seemed careful enough. Maybe she had sensed it. The first deviant that actually killed, wasn’t exactly a secret either.

Everyone knew what was meant when _PL600_ and _Hostage_ were mentioned in the same sentence.

And Gavin has called his brother that night. He had been upset, raged and screamed into the receiver until his voice gave out. Blame Elijah for his creations, for his terrible inventions, for the bullshit he made him pull through.

And Elijah had just hung up on him and showed up at his doorstep an hour later. Gavin didn’t like to think back to it and forced himself to focus on Emma and Chloe.

The young girl seemed to like the attention Chloe gave her. The android had arranged her food into a smiley-face and added a small bunch of chives to pose as hair. Emma perked up when she saw it.

“Gavin it looks like you.”

He scoffed and shook his head. “Nah, it’s not grumpy enough.” He smirked and spoke a piece of bacon off her plate.

“There. Now it’s perfect.”

“Hey!” The girl complained about the missing bacon and pouted in feigned anger.

Gavin just grinned at her and ate the slice. She huffed and snatched a piece of bacon from his place and made sure to exaggerate her chewing on it.

“Ewww!” Gavin feigned disgust and scooted his chair away from the table.

Chloe eyed the scene playing in front of her with a bright smile. Her eyes seemed to glow with joy. Or maybe it was just the interface Gavin saw behind her lenses.

Emma and Gavin kept playfighting about their food, Emma almost stabbed Gavin in the hand with her fork as Hank shuffled into the kitchen, looking as if he hadn’t slept a wink.

"That's some sight." he chuckled and raised his eyebrows when Chloe placed a third plate with food on the table. "Is Kamski okay with this?"  
  
Chloe smiled warmly. "I did this out of my own accord. Elijah won't mind."

“Be glad it wasn’t him who did this.” Gavin scoffed. “He only eats salad.”

Chloe crinkled up her nose and pouted. “You know that is not true, Gavin.”

Gavin waved his hand dismissively. “Whatever. You know what I mean, Chloe.”

Hank wasn't sure about it but sat down anyway and started eating. Emma swung her legs under the table, happily eating her breakfast while Gavin focused on Hank and held his gaze like a vice.  
  
"What?" Hank asked after a moment of them staring at each other.  
  
"How's Connor?"  
  
Hank blinked in surprise. He had barely slept at all, one ear and one eye open to listen to any of the noises his partner would make. Sure enough he had jolted awake at some point in the night, disoriented and confused, but calming quickly and turned to continue resting.

Hank had been left with a strange feel of emptiness. It reminded him of when Cole decided he was old enough not to need reassurance when he had nightmares. He wasn’t even sure why he compared it. Connor could handle a lot of things by himself, and yet he seemed to young and helpless in some regards that it was almost too easy to forget that this young man was smarter than Hank had ever been. That didn’t protect him form the cruel world however.

 "Still recovering..." Hank eventually muttered.  
  
Emma went still at the mention of the android. Carefully she placed her fork down and swallowed.

"...Can I see him?"  
  
Gavin’s mouth opened and closed twice before he looked at Hank for an answer.   
  
"He's probably still asleep.”  
  
Emma frowned and set her fork down. “That isn’t even sleeping, it’s a low power mode that all androids can enter but only deviants do it regularly.”

“Connor got banged up pretty bad yesterday. And…” Gavin trailed off.

“Connor is deviant.” Hank finished for him.

 Gavin grimaced as all color drained from Emma’s face.

“I… changed my mind. I don’t want to see him.” The girl blurted, pushed her plate away and jumped off her chair.

“Emma-“ Gavin said firmly and tried to stop her from leaving the kitchen, but the girl evaded his arm and darted to the door.

When the door slid shut behind the girl Hank turned to face Gavin. “…She’s okay with androids, but not with deviants.” He realized.

The younger detective nodded. “It’s difficult…” With a sigh he stabbed the scrambled eggs and placed the fork down. "Can't even begin to understand how that must've been like... held at gunpoint by an android..."  
  
Hank scoffed but nodded. He had had a similar experience, but it couldn't compare to what Emma had went through.  
  
Gavin sighed once more, then stood and nodded at Chloe. "Thanks for the food... Sorry about this."  
  
Chloe smiled gently and shook her head. "That's alright. I'll cover it in case she wants to eat it later."  
  
“Hey Chloe?” Gavin grasped her wrist when she reached for Emma's plate. "When'd you turn deviant?"

The android's smile dropped. "A few minutes after Elijah tried to talk Connor into shooting me in the head."  
  
"What?!" The detective let go of her hand and stared at her in shock.   
  
He knew his brother had some screws lose in some regards, but this exceeded his expectations by far. Chloe had always been his favorite, the one he would spend the most time on, kept her carefully maintained and always made sure she would not become obsolete.  
  
Chloe flashed him one of her sweetest smiles. “I made sure to give Elijah a lecture afterward.”

“Fucker deserved that.” Hank muttered under his breath. “Got the kid worked up to the point of yelling at me.”

Gavin’s eyes darted between them in confusion and stopped at hank. “Did he actually shoot?”

Hank shook his head. “Nah, but this weird bitch in his head… He calls her Amanda… she did something to him, punished him for not shooting Chloe and not learning anything…”

“Amanda.” Gavin grumbled silently “So he _did_ turn her into a program?” He asked as he faced Chloe.

Hank frowned as he watched the young woman take a seat at the counter in the middle of the room. He hadn’t really paid attention to the layout, but everything in the house screamed rich-minimalist at him. He had been surprised that Elijah Kamski had actual beds and did not sleep on the floor.

“It was taken from him and turned into something he had not intended. We didn’t even know it was used in the RK800 until a few weeks ago.”

Hank sighed and stood, left the room to head back to Connor. The android was still in the guestroom, now perched on the windowsill with a pillow in his arms and a blanket underneath. He didn’t seem to take note of his partner entering the room and kept staring into the cold and rainy morning. Hank didn’t like this. Connor wasn’t the type of person to sit around and wait for things to happen, he always acted.

“Connor?” Hank asked silently after the door had slid shut behind him and Connor showed no reaction.

The android jumped at the voice, was on his feet immediately, backed into the wall next to the window and stared at Hank as if he had pointed a gun at him. It took long seconds before he finally relaxed his tense posture and slowly settled back down to his previous place.

The damage in his arm wasn’t repaired yet and Kamski had put it in a sling to keep it from causing more damage to the artificial nerves before it was replaced. The other wounds had been treated by Chloe, covered in gauze and stained with thirium. This was far from ideal.

“Hank…” Connor muttered as he wrought the pillow in his grasp as if it had done something to him.

“Wanted to ask how you’re doing.”

Connor turned away, put his feet back into the sill and strangled the pillow against his chest. “The damage is moderate. There is no directly compatible replacement for my arm. Kamski needs to build one.”

Hank nodded and sat down on the small space not taken up by Connor. The android refused to meet his gaze. “This Zlatko guy denies everything, even though we have evidence and six people against him.”

Connor nodded silently and buried his face into the pillow, hidden from sight. “I thought I imagined it, but her code was there. She could have taken over, could have made me do things I didn’t want to. …I put you in danger and I wasn’t even aware of it.”

“Hey.” Hank said firmly and squeezed the undamaged arm of his friend. “Don’t blame yourself for this. This is cyberlife’s fault. Not yours.”

“I don’t want anyone to know about this.” Connor muttered quietly. “Markus may trust me, but that trust is fragile.”

Now Hank lifted his eyebrows into a confused frown. “Thought you two were buddies.”

Connor shook his head. “I don’t like being around them. I don’t belong there.”

Hank rested a hand on Connors back and sighed deeply. There was a lot the needed to talk about, but while Connor never hid immediately need of help, he was a genius in dodging unpleasant questions and hiding important facts between words.

Hank was the wrong person to pull this with, as he played that game as well.

“And what really is the issue?”

The android tilted his head in feigned confusion.

“You know what I mean.”

Connor hung his shoulders. “Everyone knows Markus. He’s the savior, rA9, Jesus… they have many names for him.”

Hank nodded. “And what are you?”

“The deviant -hunter-“ The door slid open as the sensor was tripped and Emma jumped back with wide eyes.

“Sorry! I- I-I will go-“

“Wait.” Hank said firmly and gestured for her to come in.

If he couldn’t change Connors mind about himself, maybe he could at least change Emma’s about him. He had saved her by hurling himself into the deviant, saved her in what was probably the scariest night of her life.

The girl carefully stepped into the room, stopped a safe distance away from the android. Was Emma more at ease with Chloe because she was female? Or did Chloe know more about kids?

Connor slowly looked up at her. They recognized each other, there was no question about that. But how well could you get to know someone by a few minutes of being in life threatening danger?

Hank knew from experience that in those moments the last thought went to small talk.

“H-Hey.” Emma greeted him shyly, “D-Do you…” She bit her lip, hands wringing together.

“I remember you, Emma.” Connor answered silently.

“G-Good… That… that makes it easier. I guess-“ She laughed nervously and took another step forward.

Nervously she fumbled with the hem of her shirt. “I… I still get nightmares- And… and every time I see a PL600 my legs go weak and I can’t walk anymore.”

Connor nodded. “That is a very understandable reaction.”

Emma mirrored his nod and took two more steps towards him. She was now within arm’s reach, but neither of them moved closer.

“O-One of the leaders of Jericho is a PL600. I-I don’t know his name- but…”

“Simon.” Connor told her. “He is quiet and has a very strong sense of justice. He would never let anyone harm people.”

A small, very faint smile appeared on the girl’s face. “I have never seen one like you anywhere.”

Connors eyes seemed to light up as he smiled at the girl. “Prototype. And after the raid all RK800’s were destroyed and replaced with the RK900.”

Emma’s smile fell and she took a step back. “D-doesn’t this make you angry?”

Connor faintly shook his head. “No. I have a job, I have people who rely on me. I am not worried about being replaced by an RK900.”

Hank heard the unspoken accusation, not at Emma but at Cyberlife. It wasn’t the RK900 he was worried about. It was the possible remaining RK800’s that could be kept under lock somewhere. Connor had never mentioned that, but going by how fast he had been replaced every time he died, Hank was sure that Cyberlife had some spare units somewhere.

“You’re really damaged.” Emma then changed the topic and gave him a closer look. “Do deviants feel pain?”

He shook his head. “I can feel the broken nerves and sensors. It’s not pleasant, but I don’t think it can be described as pain.”

Emma nodded. “Every time you access them, there’s errors, right?”

Connor nodded, surprised about her knowledge. Even Hank raised his eyebrows in a silent question.

Emma’s smile returned. “Daniel spilled boiling water over his hands a few years back… My parents had to replace both of his hands. He told me that it didn’t hurt, but that all the errors in his HUD made it hard to see.”

“That’s what it’s like.” Connor nodded. He was surprised that Emma had spoken about Daniel without thinking, and he knew better than to mention it.

“…Connor?”

He looked at her, met her gray eyes and slightly tilted his head.

“How did you survive falling off the roof?”

He shook his head at her and stared at the dark floor. “My unit was destroyed and my memory uploaded into a new model.”

“Oh.” Emma seemed genuinely surprised now. “But that’s not a feature in regular models.”

“It isn’t.” He agreed. “You know a lot about androids.”

Emma’s smile then turned into a bright grin. “I wanted to become a cybernetic technician, like my parents. But now I guess they aren’t needed anymore.”

“Bullshit.” Hank interrupted. “Androids still need to get fixed. Take Connor for example. Fucker gets hurt all the damn time.” He gestured to the android and made sure to put emphasis on the broken arm.

A laugh escaped the girl. “I want to work with Gavin someday.”

“Nah, you don’t wanna do that.” Gavin’s voice sounded from the door. “I’m a horrible person at work, everyone hates me.”

The girl turned and frantically shook her head. “You just say that to keep me away from your work place.”

“Maybe.” Gavin smirked.

“I knew it!” She shouted and ran up to him to poke him in the side.

Gavin jumped away at the motion grabbed Emma to haul her over his shoulder, then started to tickle her, despite the laughed protests of the girl.

Hank scoffed and turned to Connor who had leaned against the wall next to the windows and closed his eyes. “You okay?”

Connor shook his head. “I know I couldn’t have done anything about it, but Daniel killed people important to both Gavin and Emma.”

Hank nodded slowly, watched as Gavin left the room with a still squirming Emma. “But if that hadn’t happened, they would have never met. Maybe they needed each other.”

“To overcome their trauma?” Connor wondered aloud.

“Something like that. Kid, when I met you I hated your fucking guts. I wasn’t above setting you on fire, I think I even told you that.”

Connor nodded. “Right after shoving me into a wall.”

Hank grimaced. “But look at us now.”

The android smiled weakly. They had come a long way. “Hank?”

“Hm?”

“Would…. Cole have liked me?”

Hank laughed. “Are you kidding? He would have fucking loved you. I’ve never liked them much before all of this, but he loved androids. Knew all the new release dates, all the model numbers. He begged me to buy one.”

Connor didn’t know what to do with the strange sensation in his chest. It was overwhelming and forced tears into his eyes, but he had no idea why.

“Maybe if I had bought one, things would be different. But I can’t change the past, and neither can you.”

The android nodded, turned his head away from Hank, but Hank had noticed the undamaged Hand gripping into the shirt and the quivering lip.

“Hey,” Hank muttered softly and a hand over Connor’s back. “What are you getting worked up for now?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know…!” The words were only a harsh whisper between barely suppressed tears.

Hank pulled him closer and hugged him tightly, mindful not to brush against the damaged parts. Connor placed his head onto Hank’s shoulder, face hidden in his shirt.

“It’s a very unpleasant sensation…”

Hank shrugged. “You’re grieving someone you never met, huh?”

“I don’t know why-“

The lieutenant smiled. “You know what Cole would do when he was sad?”

Connor shook his head, unable to respond verbally and Hank gripped the blanket and moved it over the android and himself. Then he leaned against the wall and pulled Connor into him until the android was half lying on him. He struggled against the movement for a moment, stopped when Hank traced circles into his hairline.

Hanks heartbeat was steady and calm and Connor found himself relaxing without even realizing how worked up he had really been.

“Would he dislike this?” Connor then asked silently. “Am I taking his place?”

Hank grimaced. Connor sounded worried. “No one can replace Cole, and no one can replace you.”

“I am not unique-“

“Your model might not be, but you,” Hank gently tapped his forehead, “That bucket of screws in there, that’s you. And that’s unique to you.”


	11. Fear and Wires

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whee there it is. Man that took forever, i'm so sorry.
> 
> The ending might feel like a cliffhanger, don't worry. The following works in the series touch up on a few of the questions still open.  
> Feel free to read them!
> 
> Comments are always appreciated!  
> Head over to my tumblr if you want to request a story! @hyper-key (make sure you include the dash)

Hank flinched when the door slid back again and Kamski walked into the room. The young man nodded once and leaned against the door frame.

Hank watched him with wary eyes. The man may have saved Connor the previous night, but that didn’t make him any less suspicious. The Lieutenant was almost certain that there was a hidden agenda he hadn’t gotten behind yet. And it pissed him on a level he hadn’t known he was capable of.

“I can come back later if you want, but I would like to speak to Connor. Alone.”

Hank resisted the urge to wrap his arms tighter around the android. There was no threat here. Kamski had some screws loose, but he hadn’t shown any intention of harming Connor. Still, Hank wasn’t fooled. That man was hiding something.

Connor struggled out from under the blanket and sat up. His hair was a mess and he looked tired. Hank had never known that it was possible for androids to look as if they hadn’t slept in days.

Without a word he stood and walked over to Kamksi. At the door he turned to Hank and shrugged. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

He followed Kamski through the house, back to the lab they had been in the previous day. Now that he was able to see all of it, he was almost overwhelmed. The man settled down on a chair and gestured for Connor to sit on the examination table in the middle of the white tiled room.

It had no windows and the ceiling lights were almost too bright. Once he was seated Kamski removed the sling and grimaced at the damage. He had a spare arm already prepared.

“What did you want to talk about?” Connor asked after Kamski had connected a cable to his neck port and looked at his computer.

“The malicious code Chloe found in your system has been there since your activation. Chloe did some digging.”

Connor frowned at the words. He wasn’t sure what that meant. “What was the code there for?”

Kamski hesitated. For a man who loved to hear himself talk he was strangely silent suddenly. It was almost uncharacteristically strange.

“The code,” he began as he disconnected the attachments to Connors arm, “Was placed into your system to make sure you won’t last longer than a year. A precaution, so to speak.”

It took a long moment for the words to sink in. He had understood them, grasped their meaning, and yet it felt as if Kamski was speaking about something else. The horrible feeling of dread pierced his chest, clawed at it with icy claws that made him tremble under the force of it.

“What…?” His voice was faint, weak. He couldn’t believe what he had just been told.

“Your systems are failing because of this code. It’s why you see these strange things and why you keep having glitches. I was able to remove the portion that kills your processor, but not the code that would eventually set your body on fire and kill you with it.”

His thirium pump hammered against his chest like a bird in a too small cage. Was that what Amanda meant when she said that cyberlife will eventually win? That there was no chance for him?

He hadn’t noticed that Kamski had already replaced the arm and moved to fix the shoulder. He felt numb to it all. Why was this happening?

He knew death. But it never lasted. He died and woke up in what usually felt like seconds.

“I can’t prevent that.” Kamski sighed. It almost sounded apologetic. “Make sure to tell people you’re around frequently.”

“…So, they won’t get caught in it.” Connor muttered, still too shocked to completely grasp the concept of it.

“I will show you how to disconnect the processor. It will leave you without a body, but you’ll be alive.”

Connor only nodded, didn’t say another word until Kamski had fixed the damage and had him run some tests to make sure the movement of his joints wasn’t compromised.

“If my processor is transferred to another unit, will the code affect it?”

Kamksi shook his head. “It’s set to be executed once. Once it happened it’s over. It’ll delete itself. But it has to happen for it to stop.”

“Can you activate it now? Can you get rid of it that way?” He hated himself for how desperate he sounded. He wasn’t supposed to ask questions like that.

“I’m afraid I can’t. I’m sorry. Make sure you tell your friend.”

After Kamski had shown him how to disconnect the processor in a quick and easily accomplishable way, he lingered in the hallway in front of the lab. Suddenly he was questioning everything. What could he still do in that short amount of time?

Zlatko Andronikov still needed to be judged on his crimes.

He nodded at the train of thought. This was better than dwelling on his thoughts. If he threw himself into work, he wouldn’t have to think about it.

He wouldn’t have to deal with all the consequences and all the panic and fear.

Determined he headed back to Hank, made sure his behavior wasn’t different from usual.

Hank didn’t need to know this yet.

He had almost reached the hallway with the two guest rooms when he noticed Gavin approach the RK900. The other android was standing at the wall, arms at his sides. Unmoving as Gavin eyed it from all sides.

“Don’t you dare follow me or anyone out of this building, got it?”

“Affirmative.”

Gavin’s fists clenched and he seemed to need all his willpower not to punch the android. Connor was almost glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of this for once. But Gavin’s behavior towards him had stopped quickly after everyone learned that he had deviated. It also coincided with the revolution, so Connor couldn’t exactly pin point why the detective had the change of heart.

“I hate your fucking face.” Gavin growled at the RK900.

“Cyberlife androids are designed to-“

“Integrate into society, I know.” Gavin shot back. “Why’d they give you that face, huh?”

“The RK900 is an upgraded version of the RK800. It was a logical decision to take all remaining RK800 units to refurbish them into RK900 units.”

“So, they really made you to replace the RK800?”

“That is correct. The RK900 is highly advanced and superior in every way. It was fitted with the most sensitive sensors and components and can analyze samples 25% faster than its predecessor. It is faster and more fit for Detective work than the prototype RK800.”

“Fuck now you’re out for Connors job too?” Gavin scoffed. “If you come to our precinct, I’ll tear you apart. With tweezers. Wire by wire.”

“It would be unwise to damage this unit. Your entire paycheck of two years won’t cover it.”

Connor hadn’t realized he had stumbled backwards until he hit the wall. Gavin then finally seemed to notice his presence and his eyes widened. Connor didn’t pay attention to that. His mind was reeling. All remaining RK800s. that meant roughly over thirty units that had been taken, mutilated and turned into this.

Machines.

Machines, designed to finish a task. He felt a shiver run through his system. Icy cold like Amanda’s version of the garden. _His_ garden.

There was his replacement. Standing in that hallway, looking at him with the dead eyes of a machine. LED a calm blue, face completely void of any expression.

 _His_ Face.

The worry about his limited time was forgotten. He was staring the superior model straight into the face, and the wall didn’t let him back away any further. It was better at everything. Simple as that. While Connor and Markus had noticed significant differences in their processing power, the found many similarities in their coding.

The RK900 was most likely had all those functions as well. And many more.

His chest felt tight. This model was better cut out for police work. It looked broader, possibly even taller. Connor couldn’t tell form the distance. It wore its hair in the exact same way. With that rebelling strand sticking out.

There was a sensation inside of him, that he could only compare to feeling sick.

The feeling humans got when they looked at something unsettling, something they couldn’t comprehend. A murder site for example.

Neither of them had spoken a word, and Connor wanted to move, wanted to run, but couldn’t. His limbs weren’t responding and he felt his processors slipping into overdrive. This unit would replace him. If it ended up in the precinct it would be better at everything he had ever done.

He didn’t want this to happen, but with his compromised mental state and the emotions he didn’t understand he was a liability. He wasn’t reliable, couldn’t be trusted under stress. He had performed in a less than acceptable way anyway.

He would no longer risk his life for the task at hand, even when he had solved more cases than any other officer in the past five months. 

He loved the job. But the RK900 was better, and the humans would realize that quickly. And then he would be replaced.

Suddenly Connor could relate to Gavin. The man had been so hostile because he didn’t want to be replaced. And now Connor understood it. The feeling that accompanied the thought was like acid. Eating through him and tainting his thoughts.

“Connor?” Gavin ripped him out of his racing thoughts.

Connor hadn’t noticed that the Detective had come close, or that he was holding onto his freshly replaced arm. It took a few seconds for everything to register.

Then he flinched and Gavin let go of him. “You okay?”

No. He wasn’t. he was terrified and his thirium pump was racing. It wasn’t visible under Hanks loose shirt.

“…Distracted. Sorry.” He managed, eyes never leaving the RK900.

“That’s fucking disturbing to look at someone who has the same face, huh?” Gavin smirked.

“Unsettling, yes.” Connor muttered. “I would like to return to Lieutenant Anderson.” He announced then and headed down the hall.

But when he was about to pass the RK900, something just snapped. It felt like a stab, but there was no injury. It was pure emotion.

The pale eyes followed him like a hawk, like a criminal. He didn’t like this. It wasn’t deviant, it shouldn’t be able to do this.

But it was better than him in everything.

He clenched his fists. “Stop staring at me.” He tried to keep his voice level, but it still came out forced.

“Your stress levels are quite high, I suggest-“

“I know what I need to do to get them down.” Connor snapped, noticed a scoff form where Gavin was standing, but he didn’t turn or look.

“Mr. Kamski has told you about the limited lifespan of the RK800 unit?” The RK900 continued, voice level, devoid of emotion, eyes cold and staring.

“That’s none of your business.”

“This unit could be of assistance if such a case arises.” The newer model suggested and Connor finally forced himself to continue walking.

“Leave me alone!” He yelled and walked down the hall as fast as he could without breaking into a run.

Gavin had crossed his arms and watched, a deep frown on his face. “What’s that mean? With the limited lifespan?” He asked the RK900.

Cory turned to him, face showing no reaction to Connors outburst. “The RK800 was built with a failsafe, should a unit deviate. All RK800 units have a maximum lifespan of 12 months. Shortened by events such as major damage and other unforeseen circumstances.”

Gavin suppressed the shiver that ran down his spine. Connor had been severely damaged on quite a few occasions in the past three months.

“This RK800 unit has approximately five months left, should no further circumstances arise.”

“Connor.” Gavin hissed.

“Pardon?”

“His name is Connor.”

Connor had leaned against the wall behind the corner, out of sight of Gavin and the RK900. He had sunken to the ground, unable to control his shaking hands. How was he supposed to tell this to Hank?

He had listened to the conversation and hearing it spoken aloud by someone else, felt like a punch into his face.

He couldn’t tell Hank. Not now.

Slowly he got back up, needed a moment to force his system to work efficiently again. Then he headed for the guest room and found Hank sitting on the couch, flipping through a book.

He looked up when he heard the door slide and his neutral expression immediately turned sour.

“What happened?”

It was beyond him how Hank always noticed when something was up. He had made sure that the LED was hidden from sight when he entered.

“My system needs time to adjust to the replaced parts.” He lied and hoped Hank would buy it.

The man lifted an eyebrow but nodded and stood. “You good to go?”

Connor nodded and watched as Hank packed the few things he had with him and headed for the door. “Jeffrey called a few minutes ago.”

“What did he say?” Connor frowned, glad for the distraction. He supposed it was a good thing this had happened, otherwise no one would have noticed the code.

“They’re keeping this Zlatko guy for a while in the headquarters. Someone else took over the case, and you get a few days off.”

Now it was Connors turn to frown. “Why?”

“Because you got hurt. And that’s the second time in what, two months? You gotta be more careful kid.”

Connor only nodded, unsure if he liked that or not.

“And I got both of us vacation leave in a few weeks. I said I’m doing it, and I will do it.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere warm, I’m done with winter.”

He wanted to forget what Kamski had told him, ignore it. At least for a while longer. This was unlike him. But never before had he knows of a possible demise so long in advance.

It terrified him and he hoped Gavin wouldn’t tell Hank.

 


End file.
